Kingdom Hearts: Stormrise AU
by Slade1987
Summary: After losing their home in the Destiny Islands, Sora and his brother move in with relatives in Twilight Town. Sora and his cousin Roxas soon discover that they share more than blood as their world grows darker and their shared destiny is revealed.
1. Chapter 1

The water was strangely warm as Sora felt himself whipped around in the current. He gasped for air but only water filled his lungs as he kicked desperately trying to reach the surface. He broke through, choking in a lungful of air before another wave threw him back into the current. He held his breath for agonizing seconds, willing himself in vain not to open his mouth. His lungs burned and he felt his body screaming for air, demanding that he open his mouth to take in the salty water. He couldn't help it, the urge was too strong and he was too weak; his mouth burst open in an exhalation of bubbles as he again tried to push towards the surface. It was no use though, he couldn't reach it; he stretched out his hand as if he could grab a hold of the surface and pull it towards him. His vision began to blur and he felt the remainder of his strength leaving him with what oxygen was left in his blood.

A shadow crossed his waning view of the world, and a strong hand locked around his wrist, pulling him upwards against the current. Sora no longer registered it though; his mind was becoming delirious and unfocused. He was vaguely away of wind blown rain being pelted against his face, and a familiar voice speaking desperately to him.

"I've got you; I've got you, its okay. Everything will be alright, I promise."

The last things that Sora saw and felt were strong arms wrapping around him, a hand running through his hair repeatedly and something warm, red, and sticky dripping on his face, then his mind dropped into blackness and he knew no more; his last thoughts of Riku, Kairi, and Namine.

Roxas rolled over in bed scowling at the sunlight filling his room. He sat up and stretched before stepping out of his bed; he picked up a shirt from the floor and threw it on over his bare chest. He stopped, blinking curiously. Were those voices downstairs? That wasn't his father's, or Cloud's voice, but he recognized his mother's voice. What was going on?

Yawning he went downstairs, his sandy blonde hair a tangled mess as he trudged down the steps. In the entryway a Royal Guard stood in his purple and black armor, talking to his mother, he caught the last bit of the conversation as he approached.

"—ied in the storm. They have no other living relatives that we know of."

"How horrible," his mother looked up the stairs as he approached. "Oh Roxas, good morning sweetie," Her voice cracked and there were tears in her eyes, Roxas frowned.

"What happened mom?"

His mother tried to be brave, swallowing as she motioned towards the guardsman.

"It's your Aunt Aria on the Destiny Archipelago….there's been a storm and…."

She broke down crying; Roxas went to his mother and wrapped his arms around her trying to comfort her.

"What happened mom?"

"Your aunt…she's…oh god my little sister…"

Try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to say what was causing her such grief as she broke down into further tears, Roxas looked at the guardsman who stood respectfully to one side with his eyes averted, searching for the answer.

"There was a hurricane, Destin has been destroyed the islands ravaged and most of the population is dead."

Roxas felt his heart clench. Aunt Ari was dead? She couldn't be, no not her, not the warm, kind sea faring woman who laughed at her sister's worries of the ocean. He remembered the first time she'd taken him to get sea salt ice cream, how he'd cringed and she'd laughed at his distaste and encouraged him to try it again and wait for the sweetness to set in. She couldn't be dead.

Roxas' mom continued to sob; the guardsman cleared his throat apologetically as he spoke.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I truly am. Will the boys be welcome here? If not there is the orphanage, but we're trying to find as many real homes as we can before we resort to that."

Swallowing her sobs and whipping her eyes, Roxas' mother stood, regaining her composure. Roxas saw the mother he was familiar with, the worrying, loving woman who never turned away anyone in need.

"Of course, they're more than welcome and we have plenty of room. Of course they can stay, the poor dears. I'd never let them stay in the orphanage."

Roxas looked at her in confusion.

"Who can stay mom?"

"Your cousins, Sora and Leon; they survived the storm though," she looked at the guardsman worriedly. "I'm told Leon suffered a terrible injury saving Sora."

The guard bowed, his face showing sincere apology, Roxas noticed then just how tired and haggard the man looked.

"I'll inform my superiors that the boys will be welcome here. They'll be brought over with what things they have tomorrow."

Roxas' mother nodded, assuring him that everything would be ready for the boys as she saw the guardsman out the door. He bowed again and thanked her before trudging off down the street.

As she closed the door she turned to Roxas, her face ashen as she took a deep breath. She clapped her hands together in an effort to be jovial some of the color returning to her face.

"Well we have work to do, I'm going to call your father, I'm sure he can come home for this. Can you make up the guest bedroom?"

Roxas nodded, running back upstairs to get dressed, as he took the steps two at a time he heard his mother's voice again.

"Allen? Something terrible has happened."

Something terrible, he wondered to himself, still not wholly comprehending that his Aunt Aria was dead. He'd never met Sora or Leon; Aunt Aria had never been able to bring them due to money issues and then when Uncle Auron had disappeared she'd stopped coming altogether to take care of them. He wondered what they were like.

Sora looked out across the ocean as the train car trundled along; it had been a long trip from Tyre to Twilight Town. He'd stared out at the ocean the entire time, not wanting to see the red bandage across Leon's face. He still could hear his mother calling to him, telling him to get to higher ground as quickly as possible, and urging him onwards. He remembered the massive wave that had washed towards them, and thrown him away from his mother and brother. He remembered the eerie silence beneath the tropical water as he'd been tossed back and forth with no chance of escape.

The last thing he recalled was being ripped from the sea and held against someone's chest. He looked at Leon's sleeping face, swathed in bloodied bandage. He didn't remember how his brother had gotten the cut across his face, but Sora knew Leon had gotten it saving him from the sea.

Turning away from his brother he stared at the fast approaching town, there was a clock tower standing high above everything else, and the town seemed to be built like a layered cake. Each portion slightly higher than the last, he might have thought it beautiful if the situation had been different. His mother had always told them that she'd bring the boys here to meet their cousins and her sister Tara and her husband. Now she wasn't here, but they were, they were going to meet their Aunt Tara's family without their mother, and that scared Sora.

His mind turned to other things, to Riku, Kairi, Namine and the others. They'd all said their goodbyes; they'd been tearful as they each were taken away to their new families. Wakka and Tidus had been lucky, both of them still had their parents, no one knew what had happened to Selphie and no one had talked about her. Riku was being sent to Hollow Bastion, he had an aunt and uncle there who served in the army, Namine and Kairi were being sent there too to live with their grandmother.

And where were he and Leon being sent? To Twilight Town, to live with relatives they didn't even know, away from all their friends. He wished he could have gone with Riku and the others, his hand clenched around the keepsake Kairi had given him before leaving. She'd said she'd never forget him, and he didn't want to forget her. They'd shared a paupu fruit before they'd boarded their train, they all had, Riku, Kairi, Namine, and Sora. They didn't want to be apart, they wanted to be part of each other's lives, and all of them hoped that the stories about the paupu fruit were true.

The train came to a stop, and Leon stretched as he woke up and looked around. He stood up, and staggered uneasily on his feet. Sora rushed to help him, propping up his brother who smiled at him wanly through the bandages.

"Well, let's go meet our family."

The trolley ride from the train station to the district where their aunt and her family lived was uneventful; Leon did his best to have an interesting conversation to keep both their minds occupied. Most of what they talked about centered on the new town they found themselves in. Neither had ever been to the mainland, but they'd heard stories about it from both their father and mother. Now they were living their own story Sora thought, and for a change, he wished that he hadn't found the adventure he'd been searching for.

The trolley pulled to a stop and the Royal Guard assigned to escort them led them from the trolley up a steep hill before stopping at a house that looked like all the other houses. He wrapped his knuckles on the door and stepped back waiting patiently.

Sora and Leon waited behind him, Sora kept a tight grip on his brother's arm, he told himself that he was supporting Leon so he didn't fall, but the truth was he needed the support of his brother just as much as Leon needed his.

Roxas heard the knock at the door and hurried downstairs, Cloud was already waiting stoically by the door looking for all the world like he didn't care about anything. Roxas knew better, he'd heard Cloud crying the night before in his bedroom; he'd miss Aunt Aria too. Roxas had cried too, but now the crying was over and he was uneasy; not because he was meeting cousins he'd never met before, but because his mother had made them all, himself, Cloud, and father dress in suits and Roxas really just felt uneasy in his. No matter how handsome his mother said he looked.

His mother opened the door, it was a different guardsman who greeted them this time, and he bowed just as the other had. He motioned for the two boys standing behind him to come forward.

"I leave them in your hands ma'am," he said to Roxas' mother, to the two strangers on the steps he added. "Good luck boys, be safe."

The guardsman left and Roxas' mother hustled his cousins into the house.

"You must be Leon she said with a smile. Your mother told me once that you liked to be called Squall?"

Leon shook his head, Roxas couldn't see much of his features through the bandages, but his voice was a lot like Cloud's, strong.

"No, just call me Leon. Squall was a kid's name."

Roxas' mother nodded her understanding and turned to the smaller boy who seemed to be propping Leon up to a degree.

"And you're Sora."

"Yes, that's me," Sora chimed.

Roxas couldn't take his eyes off Sora, they looked almost identical, and that was just creepy. His mother introduced the rest of the family and they all said their hellos before she chased them all into the dining room for lunch. She normally didn't do anything fancy for lunches, but today had been different and she'd prepared a feast for their two guests.

Roxas watched as Leon ate, he had to maneuver his food carefully so it didn't get all over his bandages. He finally sighed in apparent defeat and looked towards Roxas's mother.

"Aunt Tara, would it bother you if I took off my bandages?"

She frowned. "Of course not dear, but…is it safe?"

He nodded. "The doctors said the bleeding has stopped and it's closed up more or less, they just wanted to keep pressure on it; if it became inconvenient though they said I could remove it."

She nodded, Roxas thought it was a little strange to hear his mother called "Aunt Tara" but was more interested in Leon as he removed the bandages, even Cloud was paying attention as Leon gingerly unwound the bandages around his head. When it was finally removed Roxas gasped, a vivid red line ran from above his right eye, across the bridge of his nose and ending just under his left eye. He couldn't have been older than Cloud, but the scar made him seem older, Roxas looked at Sora sitting besides Leon and saw the unease on his face.

After a moment of silence Roxas' father cleared his throat. "Well come on, let's finish before this gets cold. I made a special dessert for you boys."

Roxas' face brightened, he always loved when his father brought home his baking skills which he normally reserved for his bake shop. Leon ate much more heartily without the bandages obscuring his face and Sora had already been shoving down his food like it was his last meal. Roxas decided he could like his cousins, they seemed like any other brothers he'd met and who knew, having two more brothers could be fun.

That night Sora and Leon slept together in the guest bedroom, Leon had declined to re-bandage his face and lay next to Sora who stared at the ceiling restlessly.

"Hey Leon, you awake?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Why aren't you going to be Squall anymore?"

Leon sighed, taking a moment before answering. "Squall was what Mom called me, remember? I was her "little Squall in paradise," I…I don't want anyone else to use it. Only she can."

Sora nodded, rolling over and cuddling against Leon's side, Leon reached his arm out and put it around Sora.

"It'll be okay, you'll see. Everything will be fine, I promise."

Sora nodded quietly, tears in his eyes as he pressed against Leon.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"Be quiet, it wasn't your fault. Some wood caught my face when I was pulling you out of the water."

He said it so easily that Sora wanted to punch him, he did.

"It isn't okay! You got hurt saving me."

Leon rolled over and looked at him, scowling.

"Hey, I saved you because you're my kid brother. Show some gratitude and don't take all the credit."

Sora moved away at the harshness in his brother's voice.

Leon's face softened. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. You're my brother Sora, you're all I got left now. I'm not going to lose you."

"Alright, you too okay? Don't do anything stupid, promise?"

Leon smiled; "promise."

There was a long pause, and then Leon spoke again.

"So you and Kairi shared a paupu fruit?"

Sora blushed. "How did you—I mean no, it wasn't just us."

"So you didshare one."

"S-shut up, Riku and Namine shared it to!" Sora protested.

Leon ruffled Sora's hair.

"Just remember, your fates are intertwined now. You're going to see all of them again no matter what."

Sora was quiet; he really, truly hoped that Leon was right. He rolled over and closed his eyes, a moment later he felt Leon wrap his arms around him and pull him close. He didn't say anything, but having his brother holding him let Sora finally drift off into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas yawned, blinking as he looked up at the bottom of the bed above him. He stuck his foot up between the cross beams and poked the mattress.

"Sora?"

There was no response, he poked the mattress again.

"Sora you up?"

Roxas sighed and this time kicked, jolting the mattress violently.

"Sora wake up!"

"Ugh…."

Came the moan, Sora's spiked head appeared over the edge of the bunk bed, his eyes bleary from lack of sleep.

"What is it Roxas? I'm tired."

Roxas frowned fondly at his cousin. "Did you forget already?"

"Forget what?"

Roxas shook his head. "You're hopeless. We're going to the beach with Leon and Cloud remember? They leave for the academy tomorrow."

Sora blinked for a moment, and then his eyes lit up as his brain finally caught up with his ears.

"Oh right!"

He jumped down out of the bed and began dressing hurriedly; Roxas was much calmer about it as he put his clothes on. He paused for a moment as his eyes lit upon the windowsill; he picked the photograph up and smiled.

"Hey Sora, remember this?"

Sora looked up, his shirt half over his head and just his unruly hair and blue eyes stuck over the top as he looked at the picture in Roxas' hand.

He turned bright red. "Put that away!"

Roxas laughed, the picture showed the four of them, Roxas, Sora, Leon, and Cloud standing in their swim trunks and grinning, all that was except for Sora who was badly bruised in the picture. The culprit hung between them, Roxas and Sora on one side, Cloud and Leon on the other. A ten foot long swordfish they'd managed to catch at the beach the summer Sora and Leon had arrived two years ago. Sora had tried to wrestle the fish in the shallows and needless to say it had beaten the tar out of him. Leon and Cloud had to pull it off of him in the end.

Sora made a grab for the picture, his shirt still not fully on.

"Give me that!"

"No way, this is priceless."

Roxas ducked out of Sora's way, Sora stuck his foot out to trip him and ended up tripping both of them up. They fell onto the floor with a bang, Sora on top of Roxas, their noses mere inches apart.

"Hey Leon, they're at it again."

Both looked up to find Cloud, joined a moment later by Leon staring at them in the doorway. Cloud snapped a picture of them tangled in each other's arms, Leon just shook his head.

"You two really should close the door."

Sora and Roxas were on their feet instantly.

"GIVE ME THAT CAMERA!" They yelled in unison.

Cloud feigned terror and tossed it to Leon who bolted down the hall and out of sight with the boys in pursuit, Cloud followed leisurely behind smiling smugly.

Minutes later they sat around the dinning room table eating waffles with strawberries and blueberries. Sora and Roxas were both scowling at Leon.

"Where did you hide it Leon?" Roxas asked sullenly.

Leon shrugged. "What does it matter? You're the ones going after one another and not closing the door."

"We weren't doing anything!" Sora protested through a mouthful of waffle.

Cloud snorted as he sat down at the table with his own plate of waffles. "Guilty."

The boys blushed and returned to their waffles grudgingly, Leon reached over and ruffled Sora's hair.

"Come on kid, you know in ten years you'll love to see all these goofball photos we have."

"Will not," Sora grumbled, again through his waffles.

Leon smiled and excused himself, heading for the stairs. "I'm going to get our stuff together, towels, sunscreen you know the drill."

"We'll meet you outside." Roxas called.

"I'm going to get him, just watch." Sora muttered.

"Swallow first." Intoned Cloud with a smirk.

They finished and went out front to wait for Leon, he joined them a moment later, the offending camera was around his neck, but no one commented. They headed down the street and caught the trolley to the train station. Leon and Cloud bought tickets while Roxas and Sora bought sea salt ice cream. When the older two rejoined them they split it up equally and sat around the terminal waiting for the train.

"I used to hate this stuff." Cloud mused.

Leon glanced at him. "What happened?"

"You two moved in. I swear between the three of you I'm surprised there's any left in Twilight!"

They all laughed, continuing the conversation in other venues until the train arrived.

"Don't let it get away!"

"I've got it!" Sora cried, jumping forwards.

What he got was a face full of sand; the Frisbee alighted perfectly atop his head as if mocking him.

Roxas snorted and giggled. "I think it got you Sora."

Sora picked himself up and tossed the Frisbee at Roxas who caught it deftly and threw it back to Cloud, Leon was laughing too hard.

"I tripped," Sora said.

"I noticed, I don't think there was ever any doubt."

"Shut up."

"Head's up!" Yelled Cloud as he threw the Frisbee again, it sailed towards them, and this time Sora caught it without embarrassing himself further, he grinned at Roxas triumphantly and threw it back.

"See?"

Roxas shrugged and watched as the Frisbee sailed towards them again, then a gust of wind caught it and it blew towards the surf.

"Quick get it!"

The four of them ran after the Frisbee as the prevailing wind carried it out over the breakers and into the water. By the time they caught up to it, Roxas and Sora were up to their necks in the water. Leon retrieved the Frisbee and sent it sailing inland; he began to move back towards the shore when Sora jumped on him.

"Get him!"

Roxas joined in, and the two of them managed to wrestle Leon into the water before they were swamped by a wave that sent them all careening.

"Cloud help, they got me!" Leon sputtered.

Cloud stood by watching laconically. "No thanks, I'm not risking getting drowned with the three of you."

"Traitor!"

Cloud shrugged, "pragmatist."

Leon struggled free of the two younger boys long enough to leap at Cloud who tried to get out of the way but ended up with Leon wrapped around his legs. A moment later Sora and Roxas caught up and all four of them got washed away in the next wave, they came up sputtering and laughing their hair flattened against their heads. They were finally able to reach the beach again after several more skirmishes and by the time they were back on the sand they collapsed in a row staring up at the bright blue sky.

"It's going to be lonely without you guys." Roxas finally said, breaking the silence.

Leon waved his hand dismissively.

"You'll be fine; you've got Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Besides, if you get bored you can always pick another fight with Seifer and his crew."

"Yeah," Sora joined in. "We really will miss you guys."

Cloud smirked. "Don't worry; we're not going to be gone long. We'll break all the academy records and be back home before you know it."

"Promise?" Sora inquired.

"Promise," Cloud and Leon said together.

Leon looked over at Sora with a smile. "I'll even find your friends while I'm there."

"Huh?"

"You can't have forgotten them all in two years, you know who I mean."

Sora's smile flickered uneasily, yeah his friends. Riku, Kairi, and Namine….it'd been two years and they'd never once written to him. He slept with the keepsake Kairi had given him beneath his pillow each night as if that would somehow let her know where he was.

"It doesn't matter; I don't think they remember me anyways."

Leon and Cloud exchanged glances then hopped to their feet.

"None of that," Cloud said. "You're too young to mope."

"I agree," Leon said severely, they grabbed Sora and pulled him to his feet.

"Roxas, administer the treatment."

Roxas grinned as Sora yelled, protesting and trying to get free of his attackers, his yells turned to laughter as Roxas started tickling his bare stomach and feet and anything else that seemed like a good idea. Sora kicked and flailed helplessly in the grip of the two older boys.

"Hahaahah! I'm going to ge—ahahaha, oh god stop! Roxas!"

They spent the rest of the day like this, alternating between antics on the beach and romps in the waves. When the sun finally began to set they gathered their things up and headed towards the train station. None of them said it, but they all knew that this would be the last time they would be able to be like this for a while.

"Okay, everyone in front of the train!" Leon yelled.

Roxas looked at him, "what for?"

"For a picture of course, we need to remember this last day of summer. This is our childhood after all. It only comes once."

Leon made them line up, set the camera on the railing and joined them. They all grinned, even Cloud managed to make himself look cheerful as the camera flashed. Leon retrieved the camera and removed the photo as it was spat out, shaking it and examining it as it cleared.

"Yep, the best shot we've taken."

The others crowded around and looked at the photo, all of them were pleased with the shot. They boarded the train back to town in much the same way they'd arrived that morning; it was dark by the time they finally reached home.

"Hey Roxas?"

Roxas opened his eyes and looked up at the bed above him.

"What is it Sora?"

"I'm really going to miss them when they're gone."

Roxas nodded, reaching up and pressing his palm against Sora's mattress.

"I know, I will too, but we'll still have good times. Leon's right you know, we've got the gang and Seifer if we ever get bored."

Sora laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Looking forward to school?"

"Don't remind me; at least we've got another week!"

"What do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I have a new board remember? The one Cloud gave me? Race you down to the Sandlot."

"You're on."

There was a long silence as Roxas thought about what had happened in the last year.

"Sora?"

"What?"

"You and Leon are the best family anyone can have."

Sora didn't answer, but his hand fell down over the edge of the bed, Roxas reached up and gripped it tightly. They held their hands like that for a while, before both let go and drifted to sleep.

Roxas woke up first again as usual, he didn't bother waking Sora, there was no need. He lay in bed and yawned, then blinked. There was an envelope slid in between the cross supports of Sora's mattress. He reached up and opened it, reading the contents:

_Hey Roxas, knew you'd wake up first so we wanted to make sure you got this. Cloud and I saved up some money to buy this for the two of you, our goofy little brothers. We hope you like it; take care, you're in our hearts. Keep our memories safe._

_Leon and Cloud_

_PS—look on your desk_

Roxas looked over at the desk, there was a thick leather-bound book sitting on it. He climbed out of bed and went to the desk, sitting down and opening the book. He flipped through a few pages, a smile slowly gaining ground on his face. He closed the book and clambered with it up to Sora's bunk, shaking his cousin awake.

"Get up!"

Sora rolled over and pulled his covers over his head.

Roxas hit him over the head with the book.

"Come on, you have to see this!"

Sora groaned as he sat up rubbing his head, Roxas scooted next to him and placed the book between them. He opened the book and watched as Sora's face brightened, inside were all the pictures that Leon and Cloud had been taking of the four of them over the two years. Every last picture they'd taken together had been placed inside the album, each with a date and notation beneath it. They flipped to the end of the album and smiled at the picture they'd taken the previous evening, the boys spent a long time staring at the four grinning faces before starting over again, this time looking at each and every picture.

When Tara came looking for them an hour later, the two were still in Sora's bunk, pouring over the pictures.


	3. Chapter 3

Sora groaned and put his head on the table.

"Roxas, I don't get this at all."

Roxas sighed and walked around the table to lean over his cousin's shoulder to look at the math.

"Oh come on Sora, this is basic, you should be able to do this by now!"

Sora smiled up at him. "Yeah but I can't, that's why I have you to help."

Roxas shook his head, sighing. "Come on, I told Hayner and the others we'd meet them today."

Sora rolled his eyes. "They just want to get back at Seifer for last time." He grinned. "Let's go."

Roxas sighed and smiled. "You're as bad as Hayner." He pointed at the work on the table. "You are going to do that when we get back aren't you?"

Sora grinned. "With your help, race you."

Roxas didn't respond, he sprinted for the door, grabbing his skateboard on the way out before Sora had even stood up, though he wasn't far behind.

"You haven't beaten me yet!"

Sora jumped on his own board and sped down after Roxas. "Yeah but that's not going to stop me from doing it!"

They came to a stop in the side alley where Roxas and his friends had created their clubhouse, Roxas was in front still.

Sora frowned. "I'm going to beat you."

"Yeah good luck," Roxas put his arm around Sora's shoulders.

"Hey, where've you been?"

Hayner sounded impatient, just like he always did. Roxas smirked.

"Mr. Math Genius here is having some issues with the homework."

Hayner waved his hand. "Why bother? Just have Pence do it for you."

"Gee thanks Hayner, like I need to do more homework." Pence muttered with his usual cheery smile.

Hayner led the way into their hangout; Ollette greeted Roxas and Sora with hugs and pointed to the cooler.

"There's ice cream in there."

Sora made a run for it and retrieved two sticks; he tossed one to Roxas before plugging his own mouth.

Roxas smiled at Ollette. "Thanks, you don't have to buy it every time you know."

She smiled mischievously. "Of course I do, none of you ever has any money."

"Hey are you calling me a deadbeat?" Hayner demanded.

"Hayner you are a deadbeat." Pence grinned.

"What?"

They all burst out laughing, except for Hayner who looked a bit miffed at being the icon of everyone's mirth.

"Alright, alright, I didn't exactly work hard over the summer I admit, now stop laughing!"

Ollette smiled fondly at him. "We know Hayner, you let Sora and Roxas do all the work."

"Did not, besides I helped them find the jobs didn't I?"

The others snickered, Sora and Roxas just smiled at one another, each enjoying their ice cream.

"So what did you want to meet for?"

Hayner's mood immediately changed, he was in command again. "It's that jerk Seifer, he's down in the Sandlot right now saying that now Leon and Cloud are gone he's the top dog!"

Ollette sighed. "Let him, it's not like it matters."

"It does matter!" Hayner cried.

Besides Roxas, Sora nodded in agreement. Roxas sighed; he was inclined to be on Ollette's side in this matter. If Seifer wanted to be an ass, there wasn't a lot to do about it. Not that he liked it anymore than anyone else; he just didn't see much point in contesting the point with Seifer's gang again.

"All I'm saying," Hayner continued, "is that we go down there and show him we haven't lost our muscle."

"Uh, Hayner, I don't know if you've noticed, but none of us can take on Ryu. That's why we had Leon and Cloud."

Hayner scowled at Pence. "That's what Seifer wants! He wants us to just bow down and lick his boots whenever he says. We need to show him we're on par with his gang. Besides we outnumber them anyways, what's to worry about?"

Roxas shook his head, smiling half-heartedly at Sora. They both knew where this was going.

"I'm going down there, you guys coming or not?"

Hayner headed out the exit, Pence and Sora followed a moment later.

"Boys," Ollete sighed.

"Come on Ollette." Roxas called, "Hayner might have a point."

She looked at him like he'd grown another head. "I didn't things could get that bad without Leon and Cloud."

They both laughed as they hurried to catch up with the others.

"What are you loser's doing here? Didn't I say that this was our place?"

Seifer jumped off the wall he'd been sitting on, the rest of his gang didn't move but they all watched as Roxas, Sora and the others entered the Sandlot.

"Yeah we're here to change that Seifer."

"Oh and where are your big brothers huh?" Seifer spread his arms out. "I don't see them, you guys?"

Larxene leaned over Zexion's shoulder and played with his hair.

"Hmm…no I don't think they're here anymore. Just you little punks," she smiled. "Don't worry, we'll be gentle."

"Hey Roxas, why don't we let them fight? You, me go get some ice cream or something what do you say?"

"Back off Axel," Sora growled, stepping up besides Roxas.

Axel frowned. "Aww, you're never any fun Sora. I just want to treat him."

"I'll pass thanks." Roxas replied.

Axel smiled coyly. "I'll get you one of these days."

Zexion closed the book he was reading and glared at no one in particular. "Can we get this over with? I'm getting bored."

Seifer waved him off, "right, right. We're going to teach you guys a lesson. You don't mess with the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee."

Hayner was entirely unphased, never mind the fact that it was just himself, Roxas, and Sora against Seifer, Axel, Larxene, Zexion, and Rai.

"Bring it on Seifer, we'll show you we've got just as much muscle even without Leon and Cloud"

On the sidelines, Demyx began playing his guitar, smiling nervously. Ollette sat down next to him and he flushed.

"Hi Ollette," he said nervously strumming on the strings.

She frowned at him. "You really should stop hanging out with them."

He shrugged looking apologetic. "I like 'em, besides, who else am I going to hang out with?"

"You could hang around us." She offered.

He shook his head, "nah, I'd get beaten up."

She scowled and looked back at the two groups distastefully, "coward."

He shrugged; Fuu came over and glared at Ollette. "He's ours."

Ollette moved away from the pair and joined Pence just as Seifer rushed at Hayner, the two collided and ended up wrestling on the ground. Larxene and Zexion rushed at Sora and Roxas who stood their ground and began tussling with them. Rai seemed at a loss for what to do as he couldn't seem to find an opponent for himself. He simply looked around helplessly wondering what to do next.

"Yeah Roxas, fight fight fight!"

Axel stood by cheering, though he'd acted like he was going to get involved in the fighting, was now just watching Roxas; Fuu came up next to him and stamped on his foot.

"Moron."

At some point during the melee Roxas and Zexion ended up on their own, leaving Sora with Larxene pinning him beneath her.

She smiled down at him as he struggled. "See? I told you. Without big brother here you're not much against us."

She leaned down and bit his ear, Sora yelled as she giggled. "What, you don't like playing wi—"

She didn't get to finish as she was kicked off of Sora, she rolled away holding her gut groaning. Sora looked up at a familiar face, his jaw hanging.

"Riku?"

Riku smirked at him. "You haven't changed one bit."

Rei, finally seeing someone that he could fight with, charged Riku like a bull, Riku dropped down and swept his foot across the floor, cutting Rai's feet out from under him, he landed with an earth shaking thud and just lay on the ground staring up at the sky.

Sora stared at Riku. "Where did you learn that?"

"My aunt."

Hayner was on the ground being pummeled by Seifer, Roxas had beaten off Zexion who was now helping Larxene, and she was still holding her stomach where Riku had kicked her.

Seeing that his side was losing, Seifer backed off of Hayner. "Alright, let's go guys. We'll let them go this time. Someone get Rai."

Demyx and Axel did just that, between the two of them they manhandled Rai to his feet and carried him as the group moved off.

Axel smirked at Roxas, waving fondly. "See you next time Roxas."

Fuu kicked him in the shin.

"Ha! We showed the—ow!"

Ollette scowled at Hayner. "You didn't do anything," she continued to dab at the bruises on his face despite his protests. "Seifer was kicking your butt."

"I had him right where I wanted him!"

"On top of you," stated Pence with his ever present smile.

"Be quiet!"

"Who do you think he is?"

The trio looked at Roxas, he was staring at Sora and the boy who'd come to their aid. He hadn't bothered to introduce himself to any of the others, as soon as the fighting had stopped he'd taken Sora off to one side and now he and Sora were chatting animatedly.

"Probably a friend from the islands don't you think?" Ollette supplied.

Roxas frowned; none of Sora's old friend's had ever written him or anything, they'd just disappeared for the last two years. That one would just suddenly show up was a little annoying.

"What have you been doing all this time?"

Riku shrugged, leaning against the wall. "My aunt and uncle are both in the army; they've mostly been teaching me; when I'm not doing that I see Kairi and Namine from time to time."

"You still see them? How are they?"

Riku eyed Sora coolly. "What do you care?"

"What?"

Riku nodded over at Roxas and the others. "You've done pretty well for yourself. New friends, new family, did you forget all about us?"

"Of course not, Riku how could I forget about any of you?"

Riku snorted, blowing off Sora's protest. "I came here because my aunt is Leon's trainer. He told me where you were. Though now I'm not sure why I bothered."

"Don't say that Riku, I missed you. I still miss you, and Kairi and Namine. I always think of everything we had together."

"Remember the raft?"

"Of course, the one we were going to sail to the mainland with."

Riku nodded. "We got to the mainland without the raft Sora. Now what do we do?"

"Riku why are you acting like this," Sora frowned. "You aren't being yourself."

Riku glared at Sora, "because while you've been here living some goofy life with your cousins, the rest of us are in Hollow Bastion wondering if you're alright."

"I wrote to all three of you! I never got any responses so I stopped writing!" Sora protested.

"I'm catching an evening train Sora. Don't see me off, I'll tell Leon that I saw you."

Riku walked away, leaving Sora by himself, at a loss.

Roxas came up besides him. "What was that about?"

There were tears in Sora's eyes. "He blames me."

"Huh?"

"He blames me for losing touch."

Roxas snorted. "That's stupid, don't let it bother you. Just tell him you couldn't reach him."

"I did, he didn't care."

Roxas frowned. "Sora? You're crying."

Sora reached up and wiped at his eyes. "No I'm not."

Roxas put his arms around Sora. "Hey, we might be cousins but we're more like brothers right? We can cry in front of each other. I'm sure he'll get over it."

Sora shook his head. "He's leaving on the afternoon train."

"So we'll go meet him and say goodbye. You can't just let him be a jerk and walk off."

Sora nodded, smiling at Roxas now. "Thanks."

"We're family, what else are we for?"


	4. Chapter 4

Roxas and Sora waited on the steps of the train station, they'd been here since Hayner and the others had all gone home.

Sora was still upset; Roxas reached over and punched his shoulder playfully.

"Stop worrying, we'll work things out."

Sora nodded, he looked up as he saw Riku approaching. He stood up and walked towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Riku asked dubiously.

"I wanted to talk."

"I don't have time. Go hang out with your friends."

Roxas glared at Riku. "Stop being a jerk, Sora's been thinking about you and the others these past two years nonstop. He sleeps with that thing that Kairi made for him, doesn't that show he cares?"

Riku smirked, "how sweet."

Roxas opened his mouth to reply, "hey you!"

The three of them turned to see who'd called; Larxene and Zexion walked towards them, both looked murderous.

Zexion glowered at Riku. "You think you can hurt Larxene and just walk away like that? You're mine."

Riku scowled. "I don't have time to beat you again, go hit your head against a wall if you need to vent."

Larxene smiled coldly. "Oh no, I'm going to pay you back for that kick, you'll like what I have in mind. It'll be fun."

Sora stepped between the pair and Riku. "Go home you two, this is just stupid."

Riku put a hand on Sora's shoulder, pushing him to one side. "Its okay, this could be interesting."

"Oh it will be." Larxene purred.

They didn't wait for him to respond, both came at him and Riku fell back under their barrage of kicks and punches. Sora tried to join but Roxas stopped him, he wasn't going to let Sora get hurt because Riku wanted to be tough. Besides Riku was holding his own, Zexion already had a split lip.

Then Zexion managed to grab a hold of Riku from behind, allowing Larxene to punch him repeatedly in the stomach, Riku rammed his head backwards into Zexion before delivering a kick to the side of Larxene's head. Both of them staggered away, and Larxene even toppled over, leaving Riku standing over them.

"Stop wasting my time, this wasn't even amusing."

He turned to leave, leaving the pair to lick their wounds yet again. Sora and Roxas followed after him.

"Riku—"

"Not now Sora, I have something I need to take care of. Make your excuses later."

Roxas grabbed his hand and forced it open, looking at the ticket Riku was holding. He stalked over to the ticket master and bought two tickets, handing one to Sora.

Riku eyed them. "What are you doing?"

"Coming with you," Roxas spat.

Riku and Roxas glared at one another for a moment before Riku shrugged. "Suit yourself."

They followed him into the station, the train arrived shortly thereafter and the three of them boarded it. They didn't talk, and Riku sat as far away from Sora and Roxas as possible.

"The Tower," intoned the speaker on the train as they pulled to a stop. Roxas looked out at their stop. There wasn't so much a station as a platform; he had no idea where they were.

"You two still going to follow me?" Riku asked.

Roxas nodded, joined by Sora.

Riku sighed and stepped off the train, Sora grabbed Roxas.

"What are we doing here?"

"You want to talk to him right? He may be a jerk but I'm not letting him just walk off without you having a chance."

Sora managed a smile. "Thanks."

"What are brothers for?"

The train pulled away, leaving the three of them alone. Riku began walking off, Roxas and Sora followed him. They eventually saw their destination. A stone spire that reached up towards the sky, towering about the surrounding countryside and gazing over the sea below.

"I never knew this was here." Roxas murmured.

"Most people don't." Riku stated.

"Riku I—"

"Not now Sora, we'll talk later."

Sora's face darkened, but he kept quiet as they approached the massive wood door at the tower's base. Riku knocked and the door swung open silently. They entered, despite the narrow appearance of the exterior, it was remarkably roomy inside. The door closed behind them, a heavy bolt locking into place. Roxas and Sora both jumped at the sound, but Riku began ascending the winding stair and they hurried to catch up. The stair seemed to continue forever, they finally came to another door which Riku pushed open. The room beyond was brightly lit, and all kinds of odd devices lay neatly around it, behind an ornately carved desk stood a man with a blue robe and a balding gray head. His back was to him and he was staring at a chalk board upon which chalk was moving back and forth across the board by itself.

Sora and Roxas both stared, dumbstruck at the dancing chalk as it glided back and forth about the board, finally the man shook his head and waved his hand, the board became blank and the chalk began again.

"I've told His Majesty time and again that I will not have anything to do with His experiments. It is a fool's errand and if He insists on undertaking them He shall find no help from me!"

Riku bowed his head. "Master Yen Sid, this is different."

The man, Yen Sid, turned towards the trio, his eyebrows raised skeptically as he stroked his long flowing beard "Indeed."

Sora was struck by the man before them, not only was he massive, towering over all three of the boys, but his eyes were piercing, seeming to stare into the very depths of his heart when their gaze fell upon him.

A smile slowly crept across Yen Sid's face as he gazed at Sora and Roxas. "Five stars aligned, five hearts beating in time, five keys to unlock the light, five blades to combat the dark."

All three looked at him in bewilderment; he shook his head and waved his hand. A letter flew from Riku's pocket and alighted in his hand.

His eyes scanned the paper before he nodded, his smile growing. "Most excellent, I'm glad that His Majesty has seen reason. The heart is not something to be tampered with so lightly. Grave consequences can result."

The letter folded itself and he placed it on his desk, sitting down he took out a massive feather pen and began to scribble on a second piece of paper. When he finished he placed it in an envelope and sealed it with wax. He waved his hand and the letter flew at Riku, who snatched it out of the air and placed it in his pocket.

"Tell the King that I approve of his decision, and should He require assistance disposing of the experiments I will gladly offer my counsel on how best to do so."

He stood, stretching with a mighty yawn. "Now, I am hungry, as I assume you and your friends must be young messenger. Come."

He led them out a second door and down another spiraling staircase, Sora and Roxas exchanged glances. There couldn't be another stairway, the tower was too narrow.

"What's going on?" Roxas murmured.

"I have no idea." Sora replied, "but it's kinda cool don't you think?"

"If you say so," Roxas didn't exactly consider buildings that didn't adhere to the laws of physics as 'cool' but at least Sora seemed to be feeling better.

They came to another door, Yen Sid opened it and they were greeted by circular table littered with platters of food. There were four chairs arranged around the table, Yen Sid took a seat in a lavishly adorned padded chair while the three boys sat in smaller though equally comfortable chairs around the table.

"Please, eat your fill. I assure you there is more than enough."

Yen Sid didn't wait on them, their drinks seemed to never empty, and when they desired a particular dish it seemed to simply appear within their reach. Even Riku seemed thrown off by this where he'd been very nonchalant about the rest of the building. The nature of their meal seemed to make him uneasy. Sora delighted in trying to confuse the dishes, trying to think up combinations of different plates in an attempt to cause some kind of collision. When this proved impossible he tried to out drink his cup, again with little success. His failure in both these cases didn't stop him from continuing to attempt ways to mess things up.

"This is incredible!" He declared.

Yen Sid smiled indulgently. "You remind me of a pupil I once had. He had a most annoying habit of…" he considered, stroking his beard thoughtfully; "being overly zealous in his attempts to find ways to outsmart my home. And he went on to be our King, fate it would seem has a sense of humor."

Sora smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Yen Sid waved his hand dismissively. "Curiosity and the desire to experiment should never be stifled. It is what drives our very nature after all. Our hearts can be driven by the most simple of things."

He looked at Riku, his eyes shimmering. "So, have you had any interesting dreams lately my young messenger?"

Riku suddenly tensed, he looked down at his food and began wolfing it down, he started choking and coughing just as rapidly.

Yen Sid chuckled and turned back to Sora and Roxas. "And what of you gentlemen, anything curious occur in your dreams?"

They exchanged glances, feeling uneasy under Yen Sid's steady gaze.

"No, nothing unusual," Sora said uncertainly.

Yen Sid sighed, "ah well, its no matter, I'm sure you'll have yours sooner or later."

Riku coughed again, looking between Yen Sid and Sora before he spoke incredulously.

"Someone who forgets his friends couldn't possibly be a bearer."

Sora's eyes dropped, he made no reply as Riku glared at him.

Yen Sid snorted, eyeing Riku like he might an annoying insect. "Oh, and do you know so much the nature of such things? Should I resign my post and turn my resources over to you?" His eyes narrowed and his smile turned cruel. "Don't forget, you nearly lost yourself."

Riku's face flushed and he looked away from Yen Sid's gaze, who seemed satisfied by this result, Roxas and Sora looked at each other yet again, wondering about the meaning of what the two had said.

"Riku, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing Sora, its nothing, just eat so you can get out of here already and stop following me around."

Yen Sid clicked his tongue admonishingly. "No, that won't do. You see, it is already late and I'm afraid the train does not run to my home at this time."

Roxas groaned. "Oh god, mom's going to kill us."

Yen Sid chuckled and waved his worries aside. "I have made your parents aware of your whereabouts. When you are finished take the door there," he nodded to a door that hadn't been there a moment before. "There are three bedrooms prepared for you."

Riku sighed. "You're just showing off now Master Yen Sid."

Yen Sid merely smiled as he picked himself up and moved away from the table. "I am simply being hospitable. I will see to it that you all have tickets for the ride back to town in the morning." He eyed Sora and Roxas particularly. "Gentlemen, have a most pleasant night, sweet dreams."

Roxas couldn't help but feel uneasy under Yen Sid's gaze; he wished that he and Sora were sitting closer. He always felt better knowing his cousin was at his side.

"Riku?"

Riku turned away from the door he'd been about to open. "What?"

"I never forgot about you, Kairi, or Namine."

Riku sighed, rolling his eyes. "You didn't come to find us did you?"

"Neither did you, so stop saying it's my fault when you are just as much to blame."

Riku blinked in surprise, a smile gathering on his lips. "Maybe all the time away hasn't been so bad for you. I think that's the first time you've stood up to me."

Sora smiled sheepishly. "You still mad at me?"

"Yes, but I think I'll see what you do next before I pass judgment."

"Jerk," Sora grumbled.

"Grow up, good night Sora."

"Good night Riku."


	5. Chapter 5

Sora woke up cold; he wasn't in the bed he'd fallen asleep in. He opened his eyes and pushed himself up there was nothing around him, just blackness. Rubbing his eyes he took another look around and saw Roxas lying on his back a few feet away, his eyes closed.

"Roxas!"

He took a step and a blinding light shot up from the ground, a flock of birds began to lift off all around him, revealing more light when they'd finally flown away entirely he was left standing on a circular platform made of what looked like stained glass. Swallowing he approached Roxas, kneeling next to him and shaking him.

"Come on Roxas, wake up."

Roxas opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.

"Huh? Sora, what…where are we?"

"I don't know, I just woke up and we were both here."

"Don't be afraid."

Both boys jumped out of their skins and looked around, there was no one there. Where had the voice come from?

"Do not worry, I will not harm you. You have other matters to concern yourself with besides."

"Who are you?" Sora called.

He got no answer; he reached down and clasped Roxas' hand tightly.

"Good," spoke the voice again. "That is your strength, never forget it."

Their grips tightened on one another instinctively, both began looking around them, the ground began to rumble and two pedestals rose up out of the glass. Strangely it didn't shatter.

"Roxas, are we dreaming?"

"If we are, we're having the same dream."

Sora reached over and pinched Roxas.

"OW! What was that for?"

Sora smiled nervously. "We aren't dreaming."

"That's not comforting."

"Take your weapons." The voice intoned calmly.

They looked at the two pedestals; each now bore what looked like oversized keys. After looking at each other, they approached and eyed the keys.

"Are those…keys?"

Sora reached out and picked one up, examining it.

"It looks more like a sword."

He swung his experimentally, it felt light in his hand, it seemed to fit in his palm easily.

"Weird."

"Yeah you said it," Roxas had picked up another of the key-sword things and was also examining it. "Why do you think there are three of them?"

With a loud bang the third key vanished and reappeared in Roxas' other hand.

He looked at it in surprise. "Oh…."

Sora looked at the second key-sword curiously. "Why do you get two?"

Roxas handed him the second one, Sora took it, and no sooner had

Sora laughed. "I think it likes you."

"Yeah I got that too."

"Keyblade."

They jumped as the voice whispered again; this time they both brought their newfound weapons up.

"Good," whispered the voice. "You are key bearers, it is tasked to you to unlock the light, and seal the darkness."

"What are you talking about?" Sora called.

He received no answer; the glass began to rumble beneath them.

"SORA!"

Sora turned towards Roxas, and cried in surprise. There was, darkness, there was no other way to describe it, engulfing Roxas.

Sora reached out his hand. "Take my hand!"

Roxas threw aside one of the keyblades and grasped Sora's hand. Just as they touched, the darkness engulfed Sora as well. They were both sucked down, but were able to reach each other just before they were fully submerged, wrapping their arms around one another and clenching their eyes shut against the force around them.

A moment later they opened their eyes again, they were again on another stained glass platform.

"What was that?" Roxas asked, his voice shaking.

"I don't know…hey where'd the keyblade's go?"

"Keyblades?"

Sora shrugged. "Well that's what the voice called them."

Roxas held out his hands looking at them, there was a snapping sound and both his blades appeared in his hands.

He looked at Sora stupidly. "Uh…."

"Let me try." Sora held out his hand, another snapping sound, and his blade was in his hand.

"Cool."

Roxas shook his head. "No, not cool, this is crazy. What is going on?"

"Come towards the light."

They jumped and spun, the voice had come from behind them, and again there was no one there just a pillar of light.

"This is getting old." Roxas muttered.

Sora nodded. "Should we listen to it?"

"I don't think we have a choice."

They both took a deep breath and began walking towards the light.

"Good, never stop seeking the light, but you must be cautious. The closer to the light you are, the deeper the shadows will be; behind you."

Both turned in unison, stunned as they watched their shadows stand up and face them. Each shadow had two glowing eyes, and held the same kinds of weapons that the boys did. They didn't wait for the boys to gather their wits, they simply charged.

Roxas blocked his attacker and swung with his second blade, driving his foe back while Sora swung wildly at his opponent, forcing it back as well. The two shadows continued their assault, mimicking the strikes driven at them.

Sora cried out as he was struck on his arm, he looked at the wound; it looked like he'd been burned. Roxas moved in to defend him, his eyes burning angrily as he cut Sora's shadow in two.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," Sora said shakily. "It hurts."

They looked at the second shadow; it had stopped attacking them and seemed to be waiting. Sora gathered himself and ran at it yelling before Roxas could stop him. The pair clashed and Roxas watched as Sora beat the shadow back, and finally ran it through with his keyblade.

"Is it over?" Roxas murmured.

"Not yet." The voice answered.

Both boys turned to the fallen shadows and watched as they reassembled and grew in size, until they both towered over the pair. Sora moved closer to Roxas and the two stood back to back as the now massive shadows loomed over them. They no longer looked like mirrors of their owners. They had strange tentacle like limbs, and heart shaped holes in their chests.

"Sora…."

"I don't know, Roxas I'm scared."

"Me too, it'll be okay. Just stay together."

Sora nodded, facing his shadow resolutely despite the fear eating at him.

"You need never fear when you are together, you are unstoppable, and with the others you shall conquer the shadows. They cannot stand against you, keybearers."

There was another rumble, Sora and Roxas exchanged nervous glances, then the glass buckled beneath them, dropping them and their shadows into the darkness.

"SORA!"

"ROXAS!"

Both reached for the other, dropping their keyblades and gripping tightly as they fell, clenching their eyes shut as they plummeted into nothingness.

Sora woke up with a yell; he'd slept in his clothes so he had no need to get dressed as he leapt from his bed and flung his door open. Riku was standing in the hallway.

"I was wondering when you were waking up."

Sora ignored him, and yanked Roxas' door open to find his cousin in mid-grab to the door handle. They took a moment, staring at each other before they wrapped their arms around each other.

"You're alright!"

They both said, Riku blinked and sighed.

"You guys have a strange dream?"

They looked at him nervously, eying each other before Sora spoke.

"I don't know."

Riku shrugged. "I don't think any of us is supposed to. Come on," he turned to leave. "Yen Sid's probably waiting."

"Wait Riku," Sora called. "What did you mean "none of us"?"

Riku shrugged again, blowing Sora off, "nothing."

The two followed Riku as he opened the door leading to the stairwell, following him up the winding stairs, though it seemed that they went up further than they had come down.

They reached the next door, and opened it. Sora and Roxas had expected to find the dining room they'd been in the previous night. Instead they found themselves in the entryway, with Yen Sid smiling enigmatically by the bolted exit.

"I hope you slept well."

Sora opened his mouth, Yen Sid held up his hand.

"There is no need for talk, you know what you need, and you don't know what you do not need. That is all there is to it. Time will reveal what you need to know, be patient."

To Riku he said, "do not be so swift to hold grudges for unintended ills. You cannot stand on your own as you found out. Allies are always needed for anyone to stand strongly before a challenge."

Riku said nothing, moving past Yen Sid and exiting the tower. Roxas and Sora made to follow him, but Yen Sid stopped them, taking their hands and clasping them together as he stared into their eyes.

"Remember, this is your strength. Never forget it and you shall find your way even in the deepest shadow."

Both boys opened their mouths but Yen Sid motioned for silence yet again.

"No questions go, before your train leaves."

With that he shooed them out the door, the platform was where they'd left it, and the train sat patiently for them on the rails. Riku waited far less patiently inside.

"Finally, I was wondering if you were going to stay."

"Quiet Riku," Roxas muttered.

Riku smiled, looking at Sora for a moment before speaking. "I'll tell Kairi next time I see her where you are. She's wanted to write to you for a long time now."

Sora's face brightened. "Thank you Riku."

Riku shrugged, holding out his hand. There was a familiar snap and a keyblade appeared in his hand. He smiled at the stunned expressions on Roxas' and Sora's faces.

"You aren't the only bearers. We're supposed to help each other, so I'm doing that. Don't think I've forgiven you yet."

Roxas scowled at him. "Don't be a jerk."

The keyblade vanished again, and Riku sat down as the train pulled away. This time though he didn't try to intentionally distance himself from Sora and Roxas, he just sat down and remained quiet the entire way back to Twilight Town.

At the station they said their goodbyes; Sora promised that he'd write to Riku who simply shrugged as if the matter was inconsequential. They parted; Sora and Roxas began the climb back to their house. When they finally reached their front door and opened it, Tara blinked in surprise to see them coming in.

"Oh, good morning boys; I didn't know you'd already gotten up and left. I was making breakfast for when you got up. Where did you go?"

Sora and Roxas looked at each other, just what had Yen Sid done? Both decided they didn't want to know, and set about setting the table before sitting down and waiting for Tara to finish cooking. Neither said anything about their trip to Yen Sid's tower, or the strange dream they'd had the night before. If it had even been a dream, they weren't sure they'd even fallen asleep now.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey Roxas, wake up."

"Mmm?" Roxas stretched and blinked, opening his eyes to find Sora leaning over him.

"What is it?"

"What are we going to tell everyone?"

Roxas snorted and looked at Sora for a moment as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"We aren't going to tell them anything are we?"

"We aren't?"

Roxas sighed as he sat up and stretched again. "What time is it?"

"Early."

"What are we supposed to tell them anyways? That we have these keyblade things that appear at our command? That we had a bizarre shared dream at a wizard's tower that didn't seem to make any structural sense? That your friend has the same ability that we do? Sora they'd just call us crazy, besides Mom and Dad didn't even realize we were gone remember?"

"But we can show them the keyblades."

Roxas shook his head. "And that somehow makes things better? I think we should just leave it alone. We don't even know what we're supposed to do with them, now go back to sleep."

"But—"

"I'm going to sleep Sora, goodnight."

"Morning."

"What?"

"It's morning."

Roxas sighed and looked over at the clock, it was indeed morning. He scowled, laying back down and pulling up his sheets. "I don't care what it is, we aren't telling anyone, now go back to sleep."

Sora frowned and climbed back up to his bunk, laying in bed and staring at the ceiling. He held out his hand, and with a snap his keyblade appeared.

His mattress jolted, "Sora!"

"Yeah, sorry," he rolled over and closed his eyes, trying his best to sleep he couldn't help but agree with what Roxas had said. That didn't make him feel any better; he wished Leon was there to tell him what he needed to do.

_Dear Sora, Riku told us where you lived, I'm sorry we never wrote. Things are so different here than on the islands. Everything happens so fast in the city, I miss the quiet and the sound of the ocean. Leon came by to see Namine and I, he's the one that's mailing this for us. You should see him in his uniform, he looks so funny. I met your cousin Cloud too, he's sweet even if he doesn't say very much and acts like he doesn't care. I want to see you again soon; maybe Leon can bring us with him when he goes back to Twilight Town for leave._

_Love, Kairi_

Sora read the letter again, his heart beating rapidly as he read each word as if they were priceless treasures. He felt a pang of jealousy that Leon had gotten to see Kairi and he couldn't, but that was to be expected wasn't it? He couldn't exactly run off to Hollow Bastion whenever he wanted.

Roxas came up behind him and peered over Sora's shoulder. "She's cute, is that her sister?"

Sora jumped, dropping the picture that had come with the letter, Roxas scooped it up and handed it to him.

"Sorry." He said with a smile.

"I haven't seen them in two years Roxas…they don't look that different at least."

Roxas slapped him on the back. "Don't be so down about it. She wrote to you didn't she? Write something back."

"I," Sora's face flushed red. "I don't know what to write."

Roxas considered for a moment. "Well then why don't you just start with 'hello'?"

Sora looked up at him with a sheepish smile. "When was the last time you had to write to a girl?"

Roxas blushed this time. "Uh…never I guess."

"Yeah so you don't have any idea either."

Roxas pulled up a chair to the desk and sprawled on it next to Sora. "So why don't we try writing it together?"

"You can't write a letter together! Besides you don't even know her."

Roxas smiled. "Yeah but you do, doesn't that count?"

"You're impossible."

Roxas snorted. "I'm not the one that wanted to tell the world we have magic swords."

"Be quiet, let's just write the letter." Sora muttered.

Roxas grinned and leaned over his shoulder. "You're on."

The rain was pouring as Sora and Roxas ran under the awning and stood there shivering.

Roxas glared at Sora from under his black coat. "Who was it that said it wouldn't rain and we could walk home?"

"Aw come on Roxas, they're never right."

Roxas shoved Sora out into the rain, the latter scrambled back under the awning, smiling sheepishly from under his own hooded coat.

"At least we have our coats."

"Yeah, because I said we'd need them. You convinced me not to bring umbrellas genius."

Sora laughed. "A little walking never killed anyone."

"Oh really," Roxas growled. "What about pneumonia?"

"That's why we have doctors."

Roxas shoved Sora back out into the rain and they commenced their argument again.

Several minutes later they were still standing at the trolley station, waiting.

"Sora, is it getting colder?"

"Oh stop it; you've made your point." A thoroughly drenched Sora muttered.

Roxas shook his head. "No I mean it; it's getting colder…and darker."

Sora looked at him. "How can it be getting darker? It's already…."

He stopped as the light above their heads flickered out of existence; Roxas swallowed and looked around the lights along the street had all gone out. He could barely see.

"Sora, what's going on?"

"I don't know."

They were standing close now, and they'd each clasped the other's hand as they stood in the near pitch black that now enveloped them.

"Do you see that?"

Roxas looked where Sora was pointing; two glowing points of gold light had appeared up the street and were bobbing towards them. It was the only source of light anywhere on the entire street.

"I don't think that's the trolley."

"Hello?" Sora called.

More lights appeared, always in pairs, bobbing in the darkness all around them. The boys moved closer together.

Roxas swallowed. "Do you hear that?"

Sora nodded, the sound was like hundreds of skittering insect legs on the cobbled pavement, accompanied by an endless chattering. He was still shivering, but it wasn't from the cold.

One of the bobbing pairs of light's finally stopped moving as it came close, the boys looked at the strange thing before them. It was blacker than the darkness that was covering everything else, which was the only reason they could see it. The thing hugged the ground and eyed them with two golden glowing eyes. Antennae stuck out of its head and hung over its face as it stared at them, scraping its hands together, part of what was making the maddening sound.

It edged closer to them, Roxas' heart was in his throat as it did so. Its feet made scraping sounds as they shuffled along the pavement. It reached out a hand, after a moment, Sora reached out his. Roxas wanted to scream at him, wanted to tell him to stop but he couldn't, or didn't, he wasn't sure which it was. Right before Sora and the creature touched; there was a snap, and a blinding light. Sora's keyblade appeared and the creature shrieked and leapt away hissing and howling wildly.

That was all it took, the dozens of bobbing paired gold eyes converged on them, Roxas held out his hands and two snaps and the same light as Sora's signaled the appearance of his own blades.

Neither boy thought, there was no time for it, they began swinging and every time they connected with a slashing, hissing creature it disintegrated before the keyblades. Thus encouraged they continued to fight the things assaulting them.

They'd thought there was only one type of the black creatures, but there were different kinds, they glimpsed them in half shadows within shadows, never truly seeing the forms they took as they fought. At times it seemed as if several of the creatures were all one giant monster. Neither boy paused to consider any of this; they simply fought with everything they had. Something inside them told them that they wouldn't live to ponder the knowledge anyways if they did not fight.

Roxas slumped against the bench, panting heavily, his breath rising in front of his face. Sora sprawled against one of the awning supports, the lights had come back on as the creatures vanished and the darkness receded.

"What were those things?"

Roxas shook his head, unable to answer through his pants.

Sora leaned forwards; he'd lost his jacket, just like Roxas and his shirt hung heavily on him, drenched by the water. Roxas tried to move away as Sora leaned close to him and touched his own drenched shirt.

"Wha—?"

He cut off with a sharp intake of breath as pain lanced through his head and his world spun. He looked down to see Sora's fingers came away from his chest red, he blinked in surprise, where did that come from?

"What?" He murmured.

Sora shook his head, pulling off his shirt and pressing it against the wound, his face white as he did his best to staunch the bleeding.

He smiled weakly. "Just like a Struggle Battle."

Roxas managed a ragged laugh, still staring down disbelievingly at his torn chest. He hadn't felt a thing, he still didn't, was that a good thing?

Further thoughts were interrupted by the chiming of the trolley. It pulled up to their stop and the doors swung open.

"Help," cried Sora.

The conductor appeared in the doorway, staring at them in bewilderment. "What the Devil are ye doing down there and without jackets! By God you'll—eh, what's wrong with 'im?"

"He's hurt, help me!"

The conductor didn't ask, he'd seen a lot in his time and hurried to scoop Roxas up in his arms and aboard the trolley. He laid Roxas down on a seat; Sora followed and pressed his shirt against Roxas' chest again. The bleeding hadn't stopped.

"Sora…." Roxas whispered, his eyes weighing heavily on his vision.

"It's okay Roxas, I'm right here, we'll be fine."

The conductor called back from his seat atop the trolley.

"Keep yer hats on lads, I'll be damned if I'll be the first trolleymen to lose a passenger!"

Sora sat on the chair outside the operating room quietly staring down at Roxas' dried blood on his hands and the bloodied shirt besides him. The nurses at the hospital had given him a new one which he wore, but he'd held onto his old one relentlessly.

"Sora!"

He looked up in time to see Aunt Tara descend on him and wrap her arms around him, pulling him close as she stroked his hair.

"It's okay, you're okay."

Sora shut his eyes and wrapped his arms around his aunt, his eyes clenched against tears. Tara knelt in front of him and put her hand on his cheek.

"They told me everything on the phone, what happened at the trolley station Sora?"

She didn't let him answer, frowning and fussing at a cut above his eye, it gave him a chance to think. What was he supposed to say? They were attacked by shadows? Roxas had been cut by shadows hadn't he? Could he tell her that? He didn't think so.

"I don't know."

"What?" Tara frowned and looked into his blue eyes, they looked just like her sisters and the memory both stung and reassured her.

"What did you say Sora?" She coaxed gently.

"I don't know what happened." Sora said again.

"But you were there weren't you?"

Sora swallowed, "the lights went out, and it was dark. Roxas and I were holding hands then something pulled us apart. I didn't see anything again until the lights came back on and Roxas was on the ground."

Tara frowned, Sora didn't think she believed him, but she wasn't going to press him, he hoped not.

"It's okay Sora, you did everything you could I'm sure."

The door opened and Tara stood as the doctor approached her, he looked puzzled, but he smiled just the same.

"Your boy's going to be fine. We stitched him up just fine and our healers were able to close the wound without leaving a scar."

"Do you know what happened?"

The doctor shook his head. "I don't know."

Tara blinked, her frown intensifying. "What?"

"It looks like a wild animal attack. Like a big cat or, the lacerations are about right, but when I made a call to the Royal Guard they said there were no escaped animals reported, and there isn't anything that lives here naturally that could have made that wound."

"But Roxas will be alright?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, he'll be fine. We're going to keep him here overnight, but he should be up and about by tomorrow."

Tara nodded; she began to lead Sora down the hall, Sora pulled back. "What is it dear?"

"I want to stay with Roxas."

Tara blinked. "I was going to take you home first, then come back Sora. Allen is out of town, you know that."

Sora shook his head. "I'm staying."

Tara blinked and then nodded with a smile. "Alright, doctor could we have a pair of chairs and some blankets put into Roxas' room?"

"Of course, I'll have one of the nurses show you to the room."


	7. Chapter 7

Roxas woke slowly, his mind foggy. As his vision cleared he realized he wasn't in his bed. He looked around and jumped as he saw Sora sitting in a chair besides the hospital bed, his head lying in Roxas' lap sound asleep. His mom was over in a corner of the room, dozing quietly, a book lying open in her hands.

Roxas shook Sora. "Hey, get off."

Sora stirred and nuzzled against Roxas.

Roxas blushed and scowled, hitting Sora on the back of the head.

"Stop that you idiot!"

Sora looked blearily up at Roxas, and then he seemed to realize where he'd fallen asleep and sat bolt upright.

"S-sorry," he stammered, rubbing the back of his head.

Roxas smiled. "It's okay."

"Are you feeling alright?"

Roxas touched his chest where he'd been cut, there was no sign he'd even been injured.

"The doctor took the stitches out during the night once the magic set in." Sora explained.

Roxas nodded. "What were those things?"

"I do—"

"What were what things?"

They jumped, and looked to see Tara staring at them expectantly.

"Roxas, what happened?"

Neither boy said anything; they didn't look at one another as Tara closed her book.

"The doctor thinks it was a wild animal that attacked the two of you, and the conductor says that there was no one around when he found the two of you."

She ran her hand through her hair, throwing it back over her shoulder as she sighed.

"I suppose neither of you is going to tell me anything are you?"

"Honest Mom, we didn't see anything." Roxas answered.

Tara looked anything but convinced. "Is it the other kids?"

"Aunt Tara, you don't really think Seifer would go that far do you? Besides we'd tell you!" Sora proclaimed.

"I'm not so sure about that." She said worriedly, about which part she didn't specify. "You boys know that I love you both don't you?"

"Of course Mom," Roxas said.

Sora nodded too, he didn't say anything though. Tara's smile flickered and she stood, walking over to both of them and kneeling besides the bed as she wrapped her arms around both of them.

"If I could bring your mother back Sora, believe me I would give every piece of my heart for it; but I've never been happier than with my four sons."

Her tone was soft and gentle, and there was an obvious feeling of pride emanating from her words. Sora for his part shivered quietly for a moment before wrapping his own arms around Tara, shutting his eyes against tears. Roxas did his best to hug both of them from his position on the bed.

Tara released both of them, standing and ruffling their hair. "I'm going to check Roxas out; I'll be back once I've spoken with the doctor."

She left, and Roxas climbed out of the bed. "That was close."

"Do you really think we shouldn't tell her?" Sora inquired.

Roxas frowned. "I don't know…but it's like the swords right? What could we tell her that wouldn't make her think we'd lost our minds?"

Sora nodded, thinking for a moment before smirking. "Want help getting dressed?"

Roxas glared at him, taking an exaggerated step away from Sora and hugging his hospital gown tight around his body.

"You stay away from me."

They both started laughing. Outside the room, Tara smiled sadly; at least they trusted one another.

"Happy birthday boys, blow out the candles!"

Sora and Roxas blew out the candles on their cake, they got all of them. Their birthdays were at opposite ends of the same month, so when Sora and Leon had first come to live with Roxas' family, it had been decided to celebrate both birthdays in the middle of the month rather than have two separate parties. It made sense since both had the same friends, and neither boy really cared, it had simply been something else that Roxas and Sora had grown to share.

Hayner looped an arm around Roxas' neck and grinned at him. "Hey, I know you want to let me have the first slice."

"No way Hayner," Ollette smiled. "Besides, if you eat anything else you're probably going to burst."

Hayner frowned. "Just because I'm the only one with a healthy appetite doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to have cake."

Sora smiled mischievously. "Ladies first," he handed the first slice to Ollette who kissed Sora on the cheek and elbowed Hayner.

"Thank you Sora, at least someone around here is a gentleman."

Hayner eyed Sora. "What? Those two cuties in Hollow Bastion aren't enough for you? Leave some for the rest of us!"

Sora flushed, ever since he'd fist gotten the picture of the twins in the mail and shown it to the others he'd been teased constantly by Hayner who seemed to think that he'd all but married Kairi.

"Lay off him Hayner." Roxas smiled, pushing Hayner off and handing him a slice of his own.

The bribe worked and Hayner took a seat and began to scarf down the cake as he had the rest of the food that had crossed his path.

"Sora, Roxas!"

They boys looked up to see Allen come in with an envelope. "Here boys, it's from your brothers."

Sora snatched it from his uncle's grasp and opened it, Roxas crowded close to read the letter.

_Happy birthday guys! Hope you're having a good time whatever you're up to. We figured that we'd send this so it'd get here between your actual birthdays just like we always celebrate. You know that we've finished training, it wasn't all that hard actually, and we had one hell of an instructor. Granted she beat the crap out of both of us! You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she can throw Cloud and I around like rag dolls. The good news is that she recommended us for the Elites; we're with the best now. Can you believe that we only answer to our Captain and the King? I know which one is scarier too. We've made some friends up; Cloud thought you'd like to see some of them. Don't worry; I got some shots of Kairi and Namine for you too Sora so it won't all be strangers._

_Hope you have a great party, sorry we can't be there Leon & Cloud._

_PS—we had the girls all autograph the pictures so you know who's who._

Roxas shook the envelope and a packet of photos fell out. He picked them up and undid the band holding them together. The first shot was of Cloud and a dark haired girl who seemed to be the same age, they both had the same black uniforms with silver lining and Cloud had a massive sword on his back. He looked uncomfortable with the girl leaning on him with an arm around his shoulder as she smiled at the camera. The name next to her said 'Tifa'. Roxas flipped the photo over and snorted; Sora looked and laughed as well.

_This girl is an amazing fighter, but Cloud's scared of her. She wants to have his kids I think._

The next shot showed the same girl, only there were two others standing next to her. All of them were smiling at the camera and the smallest of the three was waving avidly towards the photographer, behind them were a man and a woman, both with dark hair, smiling indulgently at the camera. The signed names said: 'Julia, Laguna, Tifa, Rinoa, and Yuffie'. Again on the back there was a notation.

_These are Tifa's sisters and parents; Leon's been dating the middle sister, Rinoa since we got here. Yuffie just…well she clings to the rest of us like glue. She's always swiping things from our barracks, drives Tifa nuts._

"Hey who are those three? They look nice!" Hayner leaned over their shoulders, Roxas and Sora shoved him off.

"Aw come on, no fair hogging all the cuties."

Pence and Ollette joined the gathering; the boys relented and laid the photos out on the table.

Ollette picked one up and giggled. "Hey, he's cute, they make a nice couple."

The others looked, a brunette was standing to another man in the same black and silver uniform the names were 'Zack and Aerith'

She flipped it over and read aloud. "Zack's our squad leader; there are four of us, Zack, Tifa, Cloud and myself. Aerith is his girlfriend; the two are inseparable when he's not on duty."

She smiled. "There's more, it's from Aerith: Dear Sora and Roxas, Leon and Cloud have told us a lot about you, I hope you can come visit soon. I'd love to meet you."

Hayner groaned. "Why? Why are all the girls looking forward to meeting them and I don't get anything?"

"Probably because you don't have any older brothers in the military, you just can't compete." Pence said with a smile.

He picked up another picture, this time it showed Aerith with two other girls, another brunette and a blonde, the blonde was wearing practically nothing and was leaning forwards giving a peace sign to the camera. There was also a grumpy looking older, blonde man standing behind the three girls.

"The brunette is Aerith's little sister, Yuna, the blonde is their cousin, Rikku."

Sora coughed and snatched the picture from Pence and stared at the blonde in bewilderment.

Roxas leaned over and smirked. "Your friend got a sex change?"

Sora didn't say anything; he looked very confused as he handed the picture back to Pence who finished reading.

"The old man is Cid; he's a crackpot mechanic who works for the King, Rikku's his daughter. The three girls all live in the city with him."

"Must be a happy old man," Hayner teased

"I don't know," said Pence. "He looks pretty annoyed in the picture."

Hayner picked up the next photo and grinned at Sora. "Hey, it's your cuties."

He began to read, but Sora snatched the picture out of his hands and held onto it, Hayner scowled.

"Aw come on, don't be so touchy."

"This is one scary family

They all looked at the one that Ollette was holding. Riku, Sora's Riku, was standing in a group shot with five other people.

Hayner leaned in close. "They all have silver hair, what the heck?"

Sora cut in. "That must be his aunt and uncle."

Ollette read off the back. "The big scary guy in the back with the long hair is Sephiroth, captain of the Elites, the woman next to him is Paine, his wife and our trainer. The three boys in uniform are their sons from left to right: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz."

"Jeez, you see a family resemblance?" Hayner muttered.

"Huh," Roxas mused. "He's found one heck of a family. Looks like their all in the military except for him."

Sora nodded, a frown crossing his face. Kairi and Namine had been writing to him since they'd found out where he lived, Roxas and Namine had also been exchanging letters, but he'd never gotten anything from Riku. Looking at the picture made him wonder what he was doing, if he was alright.

"Hey," said Pence, holding up yet another picture. "This one has all of them."

They all crowded close to get a look at the newest photo. Indeed it had everyone, Cloud and Leon were in the front, Tifa was leaning on Cloud, who looked less than happy about the fact, while Leon had his arm around Rinoa's waist. To their left were Yuffie, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz and on their right were Aerith, Zack, Yuna, and the blonde Rikku, with Cid. Sora's Riku, Namine and Kaira were in front of Cid. Sephiroth and Paine stood on the far left and to the back with Laguna and Julia besides them. Everyone in the picture was smiling, or in some cases managing something akin to a smile. Above them, in big scrawling letters was written:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM HOLLOW BASTION!

Sora and Roxas couldn't help but smile at the picture; they wondered how their brothers had convinced so many people to pose for a picture for them when most of the people in the photo didn't even know Sora or Roxas. Leon and Cloud must have done something to warrant all this, where they that successful in the military? Pence put the picture down, and the five of them began sorting through the remaining shots. Hayner kept drooling over a particular profile shot of Tifa as she winked at the camera, much to Ollette's disgust.


	8. Chapter 8

"And the winner is Roxas!" The announcer roared as Axel conceded the fight with a smile.

"So Roxas, I let you win, want to make it up to me."

Roxas eyed Axel dubiously. "How about I refrain from hitting you?"

Axel's smile broadened, "but I like when you hit me."

"Axel, get off the floor and let someone who actually wants to fight on."

Axel shrugged and strode off the arena with a wink at Roxas as Seifer came on, Struggle Bat in hand.

"Ready for a pounding Rucksack, you know you can't win."

"Keep dreaming Seifer."

They went at it, both exchanging blows as they swung with their bats. The goal of the game was to get a hundred hits on your opponent. Of course no one could keep a completely accurate tally, hence the referee. It was his score that mattered, at every tenth hit that he counted he called it out to let the cheering crowd know where the match stood.

Five minutes later the score stood at forty-seven hits for Seifer, and fifty-one hits for Roxas. They squared off against each other, Seifer smiled smugly.

"Think you can keep this up?"

"Stop talking, start fighting." Roxas panted.

Seifer started in on another attack when someone in the crowd screamed. Both turned to see what had caused the scream and Roxas froze in terror as a familiar chill entered his body and one of the shadow beings from that night at the trolley stop loomed out of the bleachers. The crowd scattered to escape as it chattered and hissed angrily, snapping at anyone that got too close. Another appeared, and another, this time there was no darkness to obscure their forms and Roxas saw the myriad of forms the creatures could take. The small antennae bearing ones were tiny next to the larger humanoid creatures that loomed before him, something swooped down and a creature that looked like a dragon or something similar slashed at him, he felt someone push him over and turned to see Seifer crouching next him, his hand on Roxas' shoulder.

"Thanks."

"What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know."

Sora jumped up onto the platform, his keyblade popping into existence in his hand. "Come on Roxas!"

Roxas nodded standing and summoning his own weapons. He turned to face three of the large humanoid shadows as they advanced on him. Besides him Seifer rushed past, bat in hand as he yelled at the monsters.

"No wait!" Roxas tried to grab him but he missed Seifer's arm.

Seifer continued to rush at the trio; they regarded him with their cold golden eyes. One of them hissed loudly and raised a clawed hand, swiping at Seifer as he drew near. There was a splash of blood and Seifer was sent flying, he hit the ground and skidded off the arena. Roxas rushed towards him as several smaller shadows advanced on the fallen boy, shattering them with wide strokes from his blade. Back in the arena Sora was fighting with several shadows.

"I've got Seifer."

Roxas turned to see Axel picking up Seifer; the latter had blood dripping from a deep slash across his face.

Roxas nodded, "get out of here Axel."

Axel nodded with a smile. "At least you care."

The older boy ran, carrying Seifer in his arms as he joined the rushing crowd. The shadows seemed intent solely on Roxas and Sora, with the exception of those people that got in their way it seemed. Roxas retreated as fresh creatures scampered towards him, and another of the winged ones dove at him. He swung and clipped its wing, sending it to the ground in a fluttering, shrieking black mass.

He and Sora found one another in the center of the arena, back to back with the shadows closing in around them in an ever tightening circle. The flyers hovered just beyond, like hungry vultures waiting for the kill to be made so they could pick up the scraps. There was a sudden chorus of chirps and shouts, Roxas pulled Sora down as a bright red Chocobo surged into the mass of creatures, its rider hacking and slashing at the shadows on either side of him as the bird lashed out with beak and claws.

Neither boy quite knew where the soldiers came from, just that one moment the single red Chocobo had been surrounded by the shadows and the next the shadows were running, jumping, and flying in every direction shrieking in fear as they were cut to ribbons by a rainbow of Chocobos and their mounted riders

"Are you boys alright?"

The rider of the red Chocobo had stopped besides them and had dismounted to check on them. His Chocobo chirped and reached its neck out, its beak clamping down on a squirming shadow beneath its feet and crushing the monster's head in its powerful jaw. Its deed done it looked back at the boys and chirped at them proudly.

Another soldier rode up and saluted, his spear had what looked like shredded black fabric dangling from its tip.

"Sir, we've driven them from the square and into the market, they seem to be milling about there."

The captain nodded. "See to the injured, make sure all the civilians are accounted for. Then smash those things make sure none of them are left in the town by nightfall or we'll really have our hands full."

To Sora and Roxas he said. "You boys get home, everything will be fine."

The entire skirmish had barely lasted two minutes.

"There is still no news on just what the animals that attacked the annual Struggle Competition are, in light of the disruption of the event, and the fact that several attendees and participants were injured it has been decided that this year's Struggle matches will be cancelled until Twilight Town's safety is assured."

Roxas reached out and twisted the flipped the radio off, leaning forwards on his desk with a quiet sigh.

Sora put his hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Hey, it'll be alright, you can compete again next year."

Roxas glared at him. "Sora, I'm not worried about the Struggle Battle, I'm worried about those things. We got lucky this time, what happens next time?"

Sora shifted uneasily. "What do you mean next time?"

"This is twice now Sora, you really think there won't be a third time? Something is happening and we need to find out what it is."

Sora nodded, "okay, but what can we do about it? I mean the soldiers seem able to deal with them."

"Yeah but I think they're drawn to us."

"What? You're crazy."

"No, didn't you see how they came directly at us? They wanted us; they only paid attention to anyone else because they were in the way."

Sora thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, I guess you're right, they did seem to concentrate on us."

Roxas nodded, taking a deep breath. "I think we need to leave Twilight Town

"You're kidding right? Leave Twilight and do what? We can't just wander around the kingdom hiding from these things…besides they seem to be able to appear at will wherever they want anyways!"

"Yeah, but at least then we won't endanger anyone else."

They continued arguing for the rest of the afternoon, until Tara called them down for dinner where she fussed over them even though neither boy had been among the unfortunate attendees to be injured by the shadows.

"So we're decided?" Roxas asked.

Sora nodded quietly. "Yeah, I guess."

"You guess? Sora if you don't want to do this you'd better say something now."

Sora sighed. "Why are we sneaking away? Shouldn't we tell Aunt Tara?"

"Tell Mom that we're running away because we have magic swords that seem to draw the monsters that attacked the Struggle Battle to us?" Roxas snorted. "I'm sure she'd believe us."

Sora opened his mouth, Roxas cut him off. "If you even suggest that we show her the swords as proof I will knock you out and drag you with me."

Sora kept quiet and slung his backpack over his shoulder with a scowl as Roxas opened the window, holding out his hand for his cousin.

"Come on."

Reluctantly Sora followed Roxas out onto the sill as Roxas slid down the drainpipe with his own pack slung over one shoulder. With a last look at their room Sora slid down after Roxas.

"Alright, this was your idea, where are we going from here?"

Roxas thought a moment. "I don't want to take a train, and it isn't like there are any running right now anyways. You know the hole in the marketplace wall?"

Sora nodded, looking increasingly worried. "You want us to go out into the forest alone at night?"

"Well yeah, there isn't any other way out of the town this time of night."

Sora winced, shaking his head as they began to walk downhill. "Who was it that said it was too dangerous for us to stay here?"

"Too dangerous for everyone else, I'm not counting us."

Sora sighed. "You know I remember when I still lived on the islands, we were building a raft to sail to the mainland. We were so eager to get away from home."

Roxas looked over at Sora encouragingly. "Did you ever do it?"

"No…the storm came before we ever got the chance to even try…that's how," Sora paused, licking his lips as he continued; "Leon got his scar."

"He was trying to save the raft?"

Sora choked up as he spoke, wiping away tears. "No…I was trying to save the raft. He had to save me."

Roxas stopped and held Sora tightly. "Hey, it wasn't your fault."

Sora nodded, sniffling. "Leon said that too, I still don't think I believe him."

Roxas slapped him on the back. "I don't think he blames you, come on."

They crouched in the market as the patrol passed by them.

"I guess they're still worried about the monsters."

Roxas nodded, he wondered what the captain had meant earlier when he'd mentioned that they needed to get rid of the creatures before nightfall. Did they get stronger at night, and if so, by how much? Could he and Sora take them? They seemed pretty weak, especially against the keyblades, even the soldiers had been able to kill them with relative ease and they'd been using regular weapons hadn't they?

"Roxas do you think we shou—AAH!"

Roxas jumped and turned, one of his keyblades snapping into his hand at Sora's cry. He stopped in mid-turn as he saw what had startled Sora: a chocobo. The same one that had been in the sandlot earlier in the day, the red that had killed the creature right in front of them and then gone about like it had simple pecked at an insect.

It eyed them curiously, chirping quietly, as if it knew that silence was needed.

Roxas scowled. "Where did that thing come from?"

"I-I don't know, it just bit on my pack and scared me to death."

Roxas shook his head. "Okay, lets go, the guards are gone."

He stood and ran, Sora was right behind him, and then he heard it, the soft _patter patter patter _of the chocobo's taloned feet on the stone work.

He stopped and turned to look at it; the red stopped and looked around as well, as if it thought Roxas wasn't staring at it but for possible danger. He took a few careful steps towards the wall, and the chocobo followed after him and Sora. He tried sprinting again and again the pattering footstep could be heard. He stopped, turned to see the chocobo again right behind Sora eyeing them curiously. It gave a soft whistle and reached its head out to latch onto Sora's bag.

Roxas sighed, eying the massive bird. "Oookay, I think we have a problem."

"I think it's cute," Sora said, wrestling his bag out of the bird's beak.

"No, it isn't. It's a problem."

"It could help us."

"How," Roxas asked dubiously.

"Do you want to walk the entire time? Or carry your pack for that matter?"

Roxas gave another look at the red, it chirped quietly again, he waved his arms at it.

"Scram!"

The chocobo lifted its head and chirped curiously, canting to one side and staring at the boys out of one eye. Roxas pushed the bird's head away and it nipped at his fingers, he yelped and jerked his hand back.

Sora giggled. "I think we're stuck with it."

Roxas gave an exasperated and defeated sigh. "Fine, but you're taking care of it."

"No problem," Sora chimed as he reached up and rubbed the chocobo beneath its neck, it chirped fondly, nuzzling against Sora's palm.

Roxas led them the rest of the way across the market place to the side alley where the offending hole was. It had never been repaired, probably because it was in such an out of the way spot. Roxas and his friends had found it when they were little, and had immediately realized the utility of an easy out into the surrounding countryside. They'd spent the entire day of that first discovery covering the hole with various detritus and debris to keep it hidden. He and Sora pulled away the covering plants of wood and other bits of loose junk away from the hole.

When it was clear Roxas ducked through first, beyond was the Evening Forest, it was dark, forbidding, and a great place to escape to when you needed some quiet time. Behind him Sora was helping the red through the hole, the chocobo had managed to get its head and neck through, but its large shoulders and the rest of its body were proving difficult. Sora gripped the sides of its head and pulled, with a loud, indignant squawk it popped out into the open. Several feathers trailed in its wake and it gave an irate hiss at the offending opening they'd passed through.

Roxas burst out laughing as the bird seethed at the hole in the town wall like it was somehow at fault. He didn't like having the chocobo around, it was a hassle and he had no idea how they were going to feed it; but at least it could provide some amusement.


	9. Chapter 9

"Ugh, how much further, my feet are killing me."

Roxas stopped and turned to face Sora, who was leaning on Big Red, the name Sora had chosen for their chocobo, Roxas wasn't sure when it had become 'their' chocobo, but Big Red was just that regardless of when it had started.

"We have to keep heading inland, northeast for another three or four days, quit whining."

"Three or four days, Roxas this is nutz," Sora protested, he sat down and opened his pack.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm hungry."

"Oh for the, we just had breakfast."

Sora smiled up at Roxas. "Yeah, we had breakfast at seven in the morning. It's eleven. I'm hungry."

"Fine, we'll rest here for a bit."

Big Red warbled and leaned down in attempt to procure a sandwich, Sora waved the chocobo away from his pack.

"Hey! These are mine."

Roxas snorted, watching as the bird fluffed its feathers and chirped in annoyance, attempting again to get a sandwich; watching the ten foot tall bird being fended off by Sora, who was barely over half the bird's height, was rather comical. After several more equally futile attempts Big Red gave up with a huff and sat down between the two boys sullenly.

Roxas reached over and stroked the chocobo's feathers soothingly.

"You know considering he was part of the Twilight Militia he's pretty harmless."

"Maybe he just knows that we're not dangerous." Sora supplied through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Maybe," Roxas responded half-heartedly. He wondered how people would react when two boys and a militia chocobo turned up missing. They'd probably assume that the chocobo had been stolen by them or something. He still wasn't sure how Big Red had gotten out of his stable to follow them around. It wasn't like the bird was bridled or anything, he couldn't even begin to imagine how the chocobo had gone unnoticed long enough to find and follow Sora and himself.

Big Red went very quiet and stiffened noticeably, his head raising up above the boys and turning in a wide arc as he surveyed the surrounding forest. It was too dim for Roxas to make anything out, but he looked in the same direction the chocobo was staring just the same.

"What do you think—"

Red let out a piercing shriek and was on his feet in an instant barreling through the trees running at a full charge. Both boys looked at one another and hurriedly gathered their things and ran after the rampaging chocobo.

"What's wrong?" Roxas called.

"How should I know?" Sora panted as he jumped over a fallen log.

Ahead of them they heard a pining cry and something that sounded like someone had run into a wet wall. There was a sickening slap, followed by another shriek from Bid Red and a scream that sent shivers down both their backs. They quickened their pace, trying to find the chocobo. They came upon Big Red in a small dip in the forest, nestled down close to the ground with his beak clamped down on the neck of a large female deer.

Big Red looked up at them, warbling cheerily, as if he expected praise for his actions, Sora and Roxas watched, dumbstruck as the big bird returned its attention to the dead deer, using its beak to tear away chunks of flesh as it began to eat.

Sora's face broke out in a smile. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about feeding him right?"

Roxas' face was pale he hadn't realized chocobos were carnivorous; the militia forces had always fed theirs a strange jam-like substance that smelt strongly of berries. He'd always assumed that the massive birds ate berries in the wild. Now he wondered what else was in that mixture that the soldiers had fed their birds.

"Do you think he'll try to eat us?" He asked worriedly.

"Nah," Sora said confidently. He slid down the slope towards Big Red who stopped gorging himself to eye Sora curiously; Roxas had the unpleasant image of the big bird using his beak to eviscerate Sora.

"Be careful Sora."

Big Red clicked his beak warningly as Sora came to a stop besides him; Sora reached out and touched the bird's reddened beak, stroking it gently. Big Red's eyes closed for a moment and he chirped affectionately as he leaned his huge head against Sora's chest who giggled like little kid.

"There you see? He's not going to hurt us, are you?"

Roxas twitched at the blood that had been smeared over Sora's shirt, he felt like he was going to be sick.

"Okay you've proved your point; I'm going to wait over here until he's finished."

Roxas woke with a start, he hadn't realized that he'd been sleeping, he looked around, and it was dark already. That was strange, he couldn't have been asleep that long, and where was Sora?

"Sora?"

A low chirp emanated from the direction Roxas remembered the ditch being. He stood and walked in the dim light towards the sound. He felt his foot fall on lower ground and stopped. Two green glowing orbs stared up at him, he froze his hands spreading ready to call his keyblades, then an uneasy warble greeted him and he relaxed. It was Big Red, the chocobo came up to greet him; he noticed a vague shape besides Red's outline.

"Sora is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm next to Red, he woke me up."

Roxas looked around them, he remembered Evening Forest being dark, and hence the name, but it had never been this dark. He looked down at his watch; it was too early for it to be this dark. Then he shivered, his heart froze.

"Oh no, Sora they're coming."

Sora didn't ask, there was a snap and a beam of light appeared with his keyblade, Roxas did the same. Big Red's feathers fluffed and then flattened out, his neck stretched out as he eyed the darkness. He let out an irritated hiss, clicking his beak threateningly. The noise made both boys jump, and Sora stroked Red's side soothingly with his free hand as he searched the darkness surrounding them for telltale signs of the creatures.

They heard them then, the same chattering they'd heard that night in the rain, though sound of insects scrabbling over each other. Clicks and whistles accompanied the scrambling and the boys searched for the glowing eyes in the gloom. They saw nothing, but the sound was growing stronger, Roxas swallowed, wishing that Red wasn't between himself and Sora. He felt safer with Sora besides him, what had Yen Sid said? That they were stronger together? He certainly felt braver at least.

Big Red let out the same shriek as he had earlier when hunting the deer and leapt straight upwards, knocking both boys on their faces as his wings spread and he was airborne for a moment. He landed with a thud, there was a squeal as he shook his head from side to side, and then slammed something into the ground, goring whatever it was with his talons.

Both boys looked to see one of the smaller shadow monsters writhing in agony beneath the kicking claws of the chocobo. They exchanged terrified glances before looking up. There were dozens of glowing eyes above them in the trees.

"Oh no…." Roxas whispered.

Big Red finished with his victim, then crouched again, hissing menacingly at the eyes above them, his own eyes glowing green to their gold. Something dove at them, Red leapt again and a flying shadow was suddenly writhing and shrieking in the bird's beak as its wings were crushed by the scissor like motion of the chocobo's jaws.

Sora managed an uneasy smile. "And then there were a thousand."

Roxas returned the smile, recognizing the parody of the childhood story his mother had read to he and Cloud. "Your mom read that too?"

Sora nodded, above them the eyes had stopped their descent, apparently cautioned by the chocobo's attacks. Big Red took the opportunity to yank yet another helpless creature from a tree, the other eyes retreated uncertainly, hissing and chattering furiously at the assault.

"At least they're afraid of him." Sora said anxiously.

Roxas nodded, he wondered how long it would be before the shadows realized that they could overwhelm the lone chocobo? Sure he was a warbird, but that wouldn't count for much against such numbers would it? Big Red chirped defiantly up at the hissing mass as he finished off his latest kill, as if he was daring them to come any lower. Roxas hoped they wouldn't take the dare.

"Here they come again." Sora said.

The bobbing eyes did indeed begin to descend yet again, this time when Big Red leapt up and grabbed a mouthful of shadows he came down with three of them in his beak. Sora gripped his blade tightly. One of the pairs of eyes leapt at Red as he gored his latest victims and Sora swung his blade, slicing the creature in half, it died with a peeling shriek as it dissolved under the impact of the keyblade. Roxas swung one of his blades; throwing it upwards it spun up into the descending mass, butchering at least a half dozen of the creatures causing that particular advance to halt and fallback.

"Roxas!" Sora cried.

Roxas turned to see Sora covered in the shadows, they were crawling all over him, scratching and clawing, his second keyblade reappeared in his hand and he dove into the fray, slashing this way and that. Once he and Sora connected, their blades ringing as they collided with one another, the sound shattering the hissing screeching mass of creatures that surrounded them as they fled from the blinding light and deafening sound created by the impact of the two blades; Big Red took this brief respite the charge down several large shadows, goring them with beak and talon.

Sora saw for the first time in the fight under the lingering light of the keyblades that Big Red had acquired several gashes along his flanks and neck. These wounds hadn't seemed to slow the chocobo though; instead they seemed to drive the bird into a mad fury, inspiring new feats of slaughter that the vicious strikes from his jaws and feet dealt in droves to his attackers who scattered before his furiously shrieked war cry. The boys did their part in turn, trying their best to stay close to the now maddened and rampaging chocobo and cover the bird's vulnerable flanks and rear from the throngs of angrily slashing creatures.

It seemed like the rain of monsters would never end, more continually dropped from the trees above them as the trio made their made dash through the woods, led by the furious chocobo's charges at whatever target presented itself. Sora's arm was tiring and he was holding his blade tightly in both hands as he attempted to keep his blows strong. Roxas was dashing this way and that, swinging with everything he had in an attempt to keep the creatures at bay. Both had acquired numerous cuts which the cold brought on by the monsters bit into ravenously, further slowing their movements and reactions.

"Roxas," Sora panted. "I think this is it, I can't go any further."

Roxas stood by him, panting, and wiping blood from his vision that dripped from a gash on his forehead. "I know the feeling…next time, when I suggest we run away into the wilderness, stop me."

Sora nodded weakly, the shadows seemed to feel their weakness, and even Big Red had stopped his mad charges and now half-crouched besides the boys, hissing menacingly and snapping at their harassers. If nothing else, Sora mused, they'd killed quite a few of the monsters, there were only a handful of them left, most of those fliers that kept out of reach for the most part. He felt fear, fear that he was going to die, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He reached over and gripped Roxas' arm tightly, Roxas let go of the keyblade he held in that hand and gripped Sora's hand tightly. Sora swallowed, feeling tears form in his eyes; at least he wouldn't be alone.

The shadows chattered to one another excitedly, sensing the fall of their opponents, they began to tighten the ring they'd formed around the trio, gnashing their teeth and swiping their claws, the boys gritted their teeth and raised their blades, determined to give one last effort, Big Red heaved himself up, planting his feet firmly and hissing once more in defiance.

"Be gone shades, these boys are not yours to take."

There was blinding green light that followed the voice; it was a strong, commanding, and even frightening voice. Yet it was calm, controlled, it sounded to Sora like the kind of tone the teacher would use to scold Seifer for one of his latest outrages. The voice seemed to command that the darkness yield to the green light that now bathed the area. The shadows shrieked in agony as emerald and gold flame engulfed them, consuming them entirely, even the flyers were ablaze, it seemed almost as if the flames reached up and grabbed them, dragging them into the inferno that now ringed the boys.

Red cried mournfully, shrinking from the flame and crouching low to the ground, Sora and Roxas huddled besides him and the massive bird lifted his torn and bleeding wing, extending it over them protectively and blocking their view of the carnage. They could feel the bird quivering besides them, but the warmth from its body was still strong, his heart beat powerfully and that brought them some comfort.

The green light faded, but so did the shadow brought on the creatures' assault. The boys didn't move, waiting quietly to see what would happen next.

"Stop cowering under that beast's wing you weaklings."

The boys pushed out from under Red, who chirped at them insistently as if he wanted to continue to protect them. Before them stood a woman swathed in black, she held a scepter in one hand atop which a green orb casting the same green light as the flames shimmered. She eyed them with an arched brow, as if summing them up, the gaze also said she found them lacking.

"Master Yen Sid did not expect you to enact upon such folly, be grateful that I was able to come to your aid."

She stretched out her hand; a raven alighted upon the back of it. She smiled coolly at it.

"Go my pet; inform His Majesty that the boys are safe."

The raven lifted off, circling them once before vanishing into the trees.

"Who are you?" Sora managed.

The woman returned her appraising gaze to the boys, considering them yet again as she answered calmly.

"I am Maleficent, advisor to King Ansem the Wise."


	10. Chapter 10

"Come on Red, eat it, you have to heal this'll help."

Sora was trying to coax the chocobo to eat a slab of meat laced with a healing potion. Red was having none of it. Roxas was watching as he let his own healing potion take affect, slowly sealing his wounds. Nearby Maleficent watched them disdainfully.

"To think that I am reduced to baby sitting fools; the King had best appreciate my efforts on His behalf."

"We didn't ask for your help." Roxas stated.

She gave him a considered and condescending sneer. "Boy, if I hadn't helped, the pair of you would be in so many pieces along with that overfed pigeon," Big Red squawked indignantly, though whether from Maleficent's comment or from Sora shoving the chunk of meat down his throat Roxas wasn't sure. "And we'd have lost two key bearers; something that cannot be permitted."

"What's so special about us anyways?" Roxas grumbled.

"Nothing and everything," Maleficent said cryptically. "It isn't you that is so important; it is the keyblades that are tied to your hearts."

"What do our hearts have to do with this?" He inquired, watching as Sora soothed the still irate chocobo, he'd finally swallowed the meat at least.

Maleficent sighed. "That oaf Yen Sid, he insists on his partiality and role as a watcher and recorder of events. He refuses to do more than speak in riddles and rhymes and lets the rest of us do the work. Why the King relies upon his help is a mystery to me."

Roxas realized that she was no longer talking to him, rather she was thinking out loud. He moved off to join Sora and Red, who had finally calmed down now that the potion was closing his wounds. He let Sora stroke his beak, warbling contentedly with half-lidded eyes.

"Do you think we can trust her?" Roxas asked.

Sora smiled as Red nuzzled against him, seemingly carefree. "Yeah, she's on our side."

Roxas glared at him. "You trust people too easily."

"Well she did save us, and Red doesn't seem to mind her that much so she can't be all bad."

"Oh that's great, we're basing it off of the word of a woman who says she's the King's advisor and offers nothing else, and the considered opinion of an overfed pigeon."

Red's eye shot open and he clicked his beak in annoyance as he eyed Roxas, who took a step away from the chocobo.

"Do you think he understands us?"

Sora grinned, stroking under Red's neck affectionately. "Of course he can."

Roxas sighed in exasperation, shaking his head at Sora's simplicity. It was maddening sometimes how laid back he could be. He looked up at a cry from the trees, the raven was back. It alighted on Maleficent's shoulder and stared at her quietly, she returned the stare calmly before nodding as if it had spoken.

"Come bearers, the King summons us to Hollow Bastion."

"How do you expect us to get there?" Roxas inquired caustically.

"Don't test my patience; come here, both of you."

They moved over to her side, Sora leading Red with a hand on the bird's shoulder. Maleficent eyed the chocobo distastefully.

"Must that pigeon come with us?"

Red clucked at her and she returned his baleful gaze eye for eye, her raven added its own beady glare to hers.

Sora broke the staring match. "He comes with us or we'll just walk."

Roxas looked Sora, now he wanted to walk? Though he couldn't say that he disagreed, Red was special now, having run the gauntlet of just moments before with them he suddenly meant much more to Roxas than previously. He moved over to stand next to the chocobo and his cousin.

Maleficent eyed the trio once, and then sighed resignedly. "I will have a long discussion with His Majesty on the merits of obedience training for you two. Bring the pigeon."

She raised her arms as they stepped besides her, her long cloak billowing out from her arms like wings, there was green flash, and the forest disappeared; neither boy had a chance to cry out as Maleficent, her raven, the boys and the chocobo all vanished.

They appeared again in a vaulted hall with massive pillars holding up the ceiling, Sora and Roxas both keeled over and retched up their lunch and probably their breakfast too. They knelt on all fours, coughing and gagging as Maleficent stood to one side.

"Maleficent, while I hold no grudge against your comings and goings I would prefer that you not make a mess upon doing so."

"Forgive me King; I had not anticipated the weak constitution of my travel companions."

The first voice that had spoken was deep and accented, but it had an air of calm about it that made it remarkably comforting.

"So these two are Sora and Roxas, two more bearers come to Hollow Bastion. How many does this make Maleficent?"

"Three Majesty, though these two are hardly like Riku."

"No matter, they have been chosen, that means their hearts are up to the task. See that they are given clean clothes and let them rest, then bring them to me again. Oh and I suppose their bird must go with them."

Maleficent's voice held annoyance at this last amendment. "Very well your Majesty."

Roxas was vaguely aware of being lifted, not by hands or arms, but as if by air, he looked over and spied Sora, he looked as ill as he felt. Behind them trailed an inquisitive Big Red, who seemed to be examining the massive room they found themselves in curiously, as if wondering why the trees had suddenly turned to stone.

Sora woke slowly, his eyes vision focusing as he opened his eyes fully. He flushed bright red as he realized that Roxas was asleep next to him and Sora was only in his boxers, their faces millimeters apart. He quickly rolled over and moved away from Roxas, his face still red.

"About time, we thought you'd never wake up."

His head snapped around at the familiar voice. "Leon!"

Sora leapt out of bed and into his brother's arms, Leon lifted him off his feet easily, though he frowned at Sora as he held him up.

"You're getting bigger, keep this up and I won't be able to lift you like this anymore."

Sora hugged Leon tightly. "I missed you."

"Yeah no kidding," came Cloud's voice as he entered from an adjoining room. He walked over to Sora and smacked him on the back of the head. "That's for running away, moron."

Sora frowned, rubbing his head. "It was Roxas' idea."

"Oh yeah, blame it all on him." Cloud seethed.

"No he's right, it was my idea, I convinced him to leave with me."

The three turned to see Roxas sitting up in bed, like Sora he only had boxers on as he propped himself up. Cloud strode around the bed and stared at Roxas for a long while before hitting him in the head as well, with an actual fist instead of the backhand he'd given Sora.

"Mom was worried sick; she actually used the phone line to call us at our barracks to tell us you two were missing."

"I'm sorry," Roxas said sullenly. "Those creatures were being drawn to us, I thought if we left Twilight would be safe."

"Heartless."

"What?" Both the younger boys asked.

Leon put Sora down and shrugged. "They're called Heartless, they consume people's hearts. They're drawn to those with weak hearts, but also those who bear keys," he smiled faintly at Sora. "Which apparently both of you do?"

Sora held out his hand, and his keyblade snapped into existence, Leon considered it for a moment.

"We already told Aunt Tara that we have you two here, and that the King Himself wants to meet with you. So congratulations, you're living in Hollow Bastion now."

Sora thought for a moment before asking. "Can I see Kairi?"

"No." Cloud cut in.

Leon eyed him, as if asking for him to be a little gentler. "Not yet Sora, the King takes priority. Get dressed both of you; I'm going to go take care of that bird you brought with you."

Leon nodded to a wardrobe against the wall. "Cloud and I went out with Tifa and Rinoa to get you some clothes that fit, hope you don't mind."

He left through the door Cloud had entered, Cloud still stood besides Roxas who wouldn't meet his brother's gaze. Cloud turned to leave, Roxas reached out, grabbing the sleeve of Cloud's black and silver uniform.

"Cloud, I'm sorry."

Cloud put a hand on Roxas' hand squeezing tightly before turning and giving a smile.

"Good, don't do it again."

Roxas nodded, letting go of Cloud and getting out of bed, heading over to the wardrobe and opening it. The clothes were just like the ones he and Sora typically wore, though there were a lot of variations on colors.

"Ugh…I think their girlfriends got a little too excited when they went shopping."

Sora came over to join him and smiled slightly; he picked out a blue outfit and put it on. "How do I look?"

Roxas winced. "Do we have to wear these?"

"Aw come on, I like them."

"Fine," Roxas picked out a red set of clothes for himself and put them on. "I feel like an idiot."

Sora smirked. "Yeah but you look great."

Roxas scowled. "I'll take your word for it."

Leon led their group down hall after endless hall in the castle, Red, Roxas, Cloud, and Sora all trailed behind them.

Cloud eyed the chocobo dubiously. "Are you sure it's okay to bring that thing?"

Leon shrugged. "You want to try and convince it not to follow us?"

Cloud eyed Red as if seriously considering doing just that, the chocobo clacked its beak suddenly, the snap echoing in the vast passageway and Cloud seemed to reconsider.

Sora giggled and rubbed Red's neck, the chocobo nuzzled him affectionately. "That's right Red, you can come with us."

The chocobo let out a happy chirp at this, Roxas wondered just how smart the bird was, or for that matter how smart the entire species was. Certainly Big Red seemed to have an understanding of what was being said around him. He'd have to ask Leon or Cloud if they knew anything about it.

They finally came to a stop in front of a pair of ornately decorated double doors that stretched from floor to ceiling. There were several royal guards in the purple and black livery, they stopped them and spoke briefly with Leon, gesturing several times to Big Red. Leon's voice remained calm as he explained everything to the guard, who finally relented. One of the guards stood off to the side and picked up a mic in the wall. He said something brief into it, and replaced it into its alcove.

The massive doors swung open noiselessly, Sora and Roxas stared dumbstruck as the doors opened. How could something that large move so quietly? When the doors fully opened they made an imposing boom that reverberated throughout the hall. Their group entered and walked the length of the columned hall beyond. Roxas recognized it from earlier, now though he had a chance to examine it, along the walls beyond the columns were murals that seemed to show the founding of their kingdom cast in marble and outline in gold. He knew most of it from history books, he wondered what a visiting dignitary must feel if he was this awed by the splendor of the hall.

They neared the end of the hall, the walk was ridiculous if Roxas was any judge, and Maleficent stood quietly besides a blonde haired and bearded man who was leaning forwards with his fingers steepled as he eyed the group approaching him with piercing blue eyes.

Leon and Cloud both knelt, Roxas and Sora followed their example, the man chuckled. "No need to stand on such formality in private. There is no court in session today, just we few are here."

As their brothers stood so too did Roxas and Sora, shifting uneasily under their King's gaze.

He smiled at them. "You know who I am?"

They both nodded, still silent, both were more than a little over awed by everything they'd seen so far.

"Good," the man laughed. "Good, that means I don't have to stand on ceremony. I am Ansem, some call me The Wise though in truth if I was possessed of any wisdom I would not have pursued the foolishness that has led us here."

Maleficent gave a partial bow towards the King. "My King, we were all deceived by the…" She searched for the words for a moment. "Glamour, of Xehanort's experiments, you are not to blame. It was my fault for not advising you against it."

Ansem the Wise waved away her apology. "No mater whose fault it is, the fact is that here we are, and it is here that we must decide what to do next."

His gaze had remained fastened upon Roxas and Sora the entire time, now he spoke to them directly again. "Now I imagine that you have many questions, and I have many answers. I will tell you all I can, and then I will need you to run an errand for me."

Both boys started talking at once and Ansem's face broke into a bemused smile as his deep voice cut them off. "I think I see why Maleficent suggests that we put both of you under one of my stewards. Let's try that again shall we? Slowly this time."


	11. Chapter 11

"So what do you think?"

"About?"

Sora shrugged, "about what the King told us."

"You mean part about a mad scientist experimenting with creatures called Heartless, or the part where we're part of the solution to his plans?"

"Sounds pretty crazy doesn't it."

Roxas nodded, stroking Big Red's flank as they walked along, the chocobo squawked affectionately.

"Yeah, as crazy as you wanting to tell everyone about the keyblades; at least then it was just us that were crazy, now we have the King, our brothers, and all the Kings advisors too!"

Sora smiled. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think we're not crazy."

Big Red chirped mildly and Roxas snorted, no, he supposed they weren't, after everything the King had told them about a scientist named Xehanort and his experiments with naturally occurring Heartless which had resulted in the unlocking of something called the WorldHeart and allowed the Heartless to more or less run rampant for the past five years. And somehow he and Sora were pivotal to stopping the flood of Heartless and undo the damage that Xehanort had caused before the world was consumed by the Heartless. Why it seemed to be happening in their kingdom's backyard but not in other kingdoms he didn't quite understand, but apparently since Xehanort had conducted his experiments here in Hollow Bastion oringally, the Heartless were using it as their stepping stone in their eventual take over. For a mindless horde, they seemed a little too precise for Roxas to believe they had no direction.

None of it made much sense to a sane mind, but he supposed that nothing had made much sense since all of this had started happening. They turned another corner, following the street signs that the King had told them to look for. Their conversation turned to other, more mundane things, Sora kept wishing that he could see Kairi again but he'd been told that would have to wait until the King had decided how best to keep them safe. Apparently that involved finding two more of his advisors who were running experiments somewhere in the town below the castle.

"I think this is place," Sora supplied as they came upon a particularly large three storied building that seemed strangely out of place amongst all the smaller houses on the street. Oddly there were several empty lots all around this one building, separating it from its neighbors.

"Why do you think there aren't any houses next to this one?"

Roxas shook his head. "I don't know, let's try it."

Before he could knock, an explosion rocked the building and its surroundings, the boys grabbed onto whatever they could, which in this case was Big Red who shrieked and chirped in terror as the cobblestones rattled beneath their feet. The shaking abated and smoke began to rise from the windows and door jam.

"Come on we have to see if anyone's hurt!"

Sora rushed forwards and pulled the door open; Roxas followed him while Red waited outside, his head canted to one side as he eyed the rising smoke dubiously. The boys found themselves in an expansive main room with all kinds of bits and pieces of what looked like junk scattered about. To one side was a massive computer screen with an equally large keyboard besides which was an extensive work table covered in more odds and ends and the occasional recognizable tool. The smoke was rising from a spiral stairwell, it disappeared below the floor and again in the ceiling above their heads, the smoke was coming from below. They approached it hurriedly but were stopped by the wildly waving arms of a man coming up the stairs accompanied by a fresh plume of smoke and coughing furiously.

"Confound it Cid, I told you that was too much powder! Dash it all, we'll have to get a completely new barrel and breach!"

An elderly, spectacled man in blue robe and hat came up the stairs, waving the smoke away from his face as he coughed violently, a great gray beard swung before him as he walked. He stopped when he saw the boys and blinked confusedly.

"Oh, aren't you a bit early?"

Roxas and Sora exchanged confused glances.

"Are you alright?" Roxas asked.

"Oh yes, quite fine thank you."

"Uh sir, your beard, it's on fire." Sora pointed to the rising cloud of smoke emanating from the man's beard.

"Eh wh—oh dash it all, leave off leave off!"

He beat the smoke rising from his beard vigorously with his hat until it abated, sighing with relief as he put the flame out.

"Now," he said, wiping his glasses on his robe before replacing them to his hooked nose. "You are the two new bearers from Twilight yes?"

They nodded, uncertain of what to make of this man or his behavior.

"Splendid!" He retrieved a gold pocket watch from his robes and eyed it. "Hmm, it would seem though that you have indeed arrived earlier than expected, by two days as a matter of fact."

"Uh…we're sorry?" Sora supplied dumbly.

"Oh heaven's no, nothing to be sorry about, you haven't done anything wrong certainly. The name's Merlin, and I happen to be a wizard and advisor to the King, and you are here to summon myself and Cid to the castle yes?"

"Yeah, how do you—"

Roxas was cut off by another man coming up the stairwell; he was wiping grease and ash from his face and hair with an already dirty rag, a pair of goggles were thrown up on top of his head which sported an unruly and filthy mass of blonde hair.

"Who the hell are you two?"

"Cid, these two are the bearers we've been expecting."

Cid sniffed, pocketing the rag and eying the boys dubiously. "Heh thought we might actually get someone impressive this time; seems like the blades prefer kids. Must have stronger hearts than us old timers eh Merlin?"

He said this last bit with a laugh, thumping Merlin on the back, setting Merlin's glasses askew.

"Cid, the King has summoned us." Merlin said gently as he realigned his spectacles once again.

"He has has he? Well that's great; I can get my point across about this new weapon of mine. Show that sorceress what a good dose of hollowed out iron and black powder will do. Let's get going, RIKKU!"

"Yeah Dad, we heard you. What did you blow up this time?" A voice called from above.

"Nah it isn't that, we have company, come keep an eye on them."

Three women came down the stairs, two brunettes and a blonde. Sora snapped his fingers.

"Hey I recognize you, Aerith, Yuna, and Rikku right?"

The three blinked and stared at him blankly, then one of the brunettes, Aerith, smiled at them.

"Oh, you must be Sora and Roxas, Zack said you'd arrived yesterday."

"These are Leon and Cloud's brothers?" The blonde said, a sudden smile crossing her face. She ran up to the boys and gave them both a hug. "I'm Rikku, pleased to meet you." To Roxas she added conspiratorially, "you single?"

Roxas and Sora were both a little distracted by the chestfull they were both being submitted to, their faces burned with embarrassment as Rikku cuddled them affectionately; Roxas was just glad that she was actually wearing something that looked like clothing and not underwear unlike the photographs he'd seen her in.

"Uh, Rikku I think you need to let them breathe a little." The other brunette had come alongside and pried Rikku off; she smiled at the boys kindly.

"I'm Yuna, we've heard a lot about you."

"Yes yes, now that we all know each other, can you three keep them busy while we go see the King and figure out what we're supposed to do now?"

Aerith frowned; Cid snapped his fingers and waved her off. "Of course, yeah go ahead kiddo, tell Zack I said hi."

Cid sighed and eyed Merlin seriously as she went back upstairs. "Someone tell them they're not allowed to come live with me and then grow up like that."

Merlin chuckled. "And who are you to determine how the world works? The King is waiting."

"Eh, I hate doing this, get it over with."

Merlin reached for a walking stick leaning on the wall, he gave the floor a tap and the pair dissolved into a shower of silver sparks which whisked out the chimney, leaving Sora and Roxas alone with Rikku and Yuna. Before anyone could say anything, Red stuck his head in through the still open door and chirped curiously at the new faces, Rikku squealed and looped her arm around his neck; the big chcocobo chirped in surprise and eyed the blonde girl now hanging around his neck as she nuzzled him affectionately.

"Is he yours?" She asked Roxas excitedly.

Roxas scratched his head and looked at Sora looking for an answer, Sora shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I think we're his."

"You have to let me ride him!" Rikku cried.

"Uh, okay." Sora said dumbly.

Yuna giggled. "Sorry, she's excitable. Why don't we go out and show you around the city and you can tell us about yourselves."

In the end they didn't stay at Cid's lab, instead they went out, with Rikku atop a disgruntled Big Red as she kept trying to direct him where to go next and he didn't want to have any of it. To the boys' relief though he was well behaved and didn't try throwing her, Yuna walked with them and told them about the city. Occasionally Rikku would pitch in with a comment, usually flirting with Roxas in the process which further resulted in a blush from Roxas at the older girl's unashamed advances.

Sora stopped on a veranda looked out at the massive citadel where the King lived; Yuna leaned on the railing besides him.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

"I don't know, it looks so…" He searched for a word. "Dark I guess."

Yuna looked from him to the fortress again, nodding. "Supposedly it was built when the kingdom was first founded. To protect the people of Hollow from the marauding bandits in the mountains, it's how the castle got its name. It was the Bastion of Hollow."

"So why Hollow Bastion?" Sora asked, a short distance away from them Roxas was helping Rikku off of Red, who had stopped to inspect an overly curious dog.

Yuna shrugged. "I guess because the town and castle both kept growing until they were almost the same."

"It's funny, but I never thought that I'd leave Twilight Town. I mean I suppose I expected to come see my brothers, Riku, and Kairi."

"I've met them, for that big picture your brothers took. It was so weird to meet another Rikku, though I guess he spells his name differently."

"Who took that picture anyways?" Sora inquired.

Yuna giggled. "Merlin, he was quite insistent that he get a copy as payment."

Sora leaned over the railing. "I hope I can see Kairi again soon."

Yuna's smile flickered for a moment. "She's important to you?"

He nodded emphatically and her smile returned in full force. It was a very nice smile he realized, he felt warmth in his chest when she smiled.

"Then you should make sure she knows it, and be sure to keep her safe."

Sora nodded again, blushing further, and then Roxas cried out. Sora and Yuna turned to see Rikku with her legs wrapped around Roxas' waist with her arms around his neck forcing Roxas to grab whatever he could to keep her from falling, in this case her butt. He was sputtering apologies while Rikku giggled and leaned against him.

"What's the matter? I don't mind." She said playfully.

Yuna scowled, though her eyes were smiling as she went over and pulled Rikku off of Roxas.

"Rikku, leave him alone, you're going to scare him to death."

Roxas was speechless, and as the four of them continued, Red and the girls leading the way he leaned over to Sora.

"She's crazy."

Sora grinned. "I think you like her."

"No I don't! She's obnoxious and…and…just weird."

Roxas flushed, and Sora patted him on the back. "I think its okay, just kiss her and she'll realize you're not worth the effort."

Roxas glowered and shoved Sora into Red's posterior, causing a bit of an incident as he squawked in protest and bolted forwards, turning around and hissing warningly at Sora who did his best to calm the chocobo as the girls laughed, keeping their distance from the irate bird.

They spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, the girls playing the role of tour guide. Rikku continued her assault on Roxas' senses and he eventually caved and let her hang onto him without complaint though he looked like he was completely miserable the entire time. This was especially true when Rikku decided to parade Roxas in front of a group of her schoolmates; Sora had to contain his laughter as Roxas was sold off as Rikku's boyfriend despite his vehement protests.

After that incident Roxas was convinced that there was nothing that Rikku could do to further embarrass him. Yuna warned him when he made this declaration out of earshot of Rikku that he'd better not tempt her because she was known for finding ways to trump people's expectations.

They returned to Cid's workshop to find that they were the only ones there, Roxas and Sora tried to leave but Rikku and Yuna insisted that they stay the night instead of walking around the city in the dark. Reluctantly they agreed, and Yuna's prediction was proven right when Rikku grabbed Roxas and kissed him full on the mouth, leaving the stunned boy standing dumbly in the doorway to the guest room as she winked and wished him goodnight.


	12. Chapter 12

"Eh, kid wake up."

Roxas groaned and rolled over in his sleeping bag.

"Oh for the love of, GET UP!"

Roxas groaned as a boot connected with his rear, it wasn't a hard kick, but it wasn't gentle by any means. He looked up blearily to find Cid looming over him.

"When was the last time you fed that bird of yours?"

"Uh…." Roxas thought for a moment, "yesterday before we left the castle?"

"Eh, that explains why it's trying to get in. Damned thing is hungry. Come on, you brought it with you, you get to feed it."

Roxas crawled out of the sleeping bag and yawned, stretching as he did so he stood and walked across the junk strewn floor, the guest room was more like a storage room in his mind even though it may have been used as intended at some point there was now so much stuff everywhere it was hard to tell.

"Sora, come on."

Sora opened his eyes and looked up at him blearily. "Huh?"

"Cid wants you to feed Red."

"Why do I have to do it? You're awake."

Roxas smiled at him. "Because you wanted to bring him, get up."

Sora sighed and got out of his sleeping bag yawning as well, from the next room they heard Cid call.

"I don't care if you two sweethearts want to kiss a little but one of you needs to get your ass out here and feed this thing before it tries to eat someone's cat."

"Aw, Dad, lay off them." Came Rikku's cheery voice, she stuck her head into the guest room and promptly solicited a blush from Roxas simply from her outfit. Very short shorts and a bikini top. She smiled at him mischievously.

"Want to help me make breakfast?"

"Uh, I have to feed Red." Roxas said hastily.

"Sora can do that." Rikku said.

"Yeah, you go ahead Roxas," chimed in Sora who pushed Roxas into Rikku, he stumbled and steadied himself, palms on her breasts.

"AH! I'm sorry!"

She giggled and kissed him lightly on the lips. "It's alright," she winked. "Just don't tell Dad."

She took his hand and dragged him from the room, Roxas looked back at Sora, his expression pleading, Sora was grinning.

Sora opened the front door to find Red standing in front of the door and pawing at the ground pensively.

"Have you ever fed this thing before?"

Sora jumped and turned to see Cid, carrying a bucket emitting a foul stench. Whatever was in the bucket obviously excited Red who began chirping insistently.

"Ugh, what is that?"

"Food, now answer the question: have you ever fed him?"

Sora nodded. "Once, I laced some deer meat with a potion to help him heal."

"Deer?" Cid asked curiously.

"Yeah, he'd killed it and I used a piece to get him to swallow the potion."

Cid stared at him dumbly, his jaw hanging. "You let a chocobo hunt? Boy you're either insane or stupid; probably both by rights."

Sora frowned. "Why what's wrong with letting him hunt?"

"What's wrong is that he might have thought of you as food! Think about it, in the wild these things bring down animals that weigh as much as they do in some cases! A human isn't going to be very difficult. That's why we do our damned best to make sure their hunting habits don't get rekindled, think for a moment kid; they're trained as warbirds and they're already predatory."

Sora looked at Red who was warbling plaintively, his eyes fixated on the bucket Cid had placed on the floor. "He wouldn't attack me."

"You're a stupid one if you think that." Cid declared as he hauled the bucket around and placed it in front of Sora. "How'd you feed him?"

Sora looked at the reddish substance and took another sniff, it smelt rancid though there was a faint whiff of berries now that he was getting used to the smell. He reached in and grabbed a handful of the goop, it was cold and gelatinous and he had to cup his hands to keep it from falling onto the floor. He looked at Cid who was watching him with interest as if he didn't expect Sora to be standing in a moment. Sora ignored him and walked up to Red, who chirped happily now that his meal had arrived. His massive beak shot out and bug into the mush that Sora was holding, his jaws clicking rapidly.

Sora giggled. "His tongue tickles!"

Cid's mouth was agape. "You're feeding that thing bare palmed and it isn't trying to take your head off; how the hell?"

Sora grinned. "I told you he wouldn't attack me."

He went back and picked up the rest of the bucket and hefted it in his arms. He carried it back to Red who dug into the bucket voraciously, as the load lightened Sora was able to reach up and struck the top of Red's head. The chocobo crooned happily as he continued to eat.

Cid came up next to Sora, shaking his head. "Damn, now I've seen everything. A chocobo that can be hand fed even after being allowed to hunt on its own, they'll never believe this at the pub."

Later they all sat around the kitchen table and ate, Rikku, with Roxas' reluctant help had cooked up a meal of eggs, sausage, and toast. Rikku of course had insisted that Roxas sit next to him and kept shooting him flirtatious glances out of the corner of her eye. Cid didn't pay attention to this, he was too busy describing in depth Big Red's behavior with Sora, who was embarrassed that such a big deal was being made over something that he'd never even considered to be unusual, Big Red just let him feed him, that was all there was to it.

Yuna was smiling as Cid described the scene. "Is it that big of a surprise? I mean he went the entire day with us and didn't even snap at anyone."

Cid waved his fork at her. "Girl, the bird was allowed to hunt! All the chocobos I've heard of doing that have gone feral and were unapproachable. This boy," he waved his fork at Sora. "Not only had the thing hunt, but he was able to hand feed him shortly afterwards without losing as much as a finger! That's special."

Yuna chuckled, "if you say so Uncle Cid."

"Damn it I do say so! If we could manage what this boy did with the knights we'd be able to double our cavalry force! No one would even dream of attacking us!"

"Aw come off it Dad, there hasn't been a war in thirty years and you know it." Rikku said, sticking out her tongue.

There was a knock at the front door, precluding any further discussion on the wildly spiraling conversation, Roxas hastily stood up to answer it, moving as quickly as possible away from Rikku and to the relative safety of the living room. The knock came again as he reached the door.

Drawing the door open a smile of relief played across his face. "Hi guys."

Cloud returned the smile. "I was wondering if you two were still here."

Behind him Leon was scratching Red under his beak and the big bird was warbling contentedly. "Sora's here too I assume?" He called.

Roxas nodded, but before he could continue he was slammed into by Rikku who latched onto his arm grinning up at Cloud.

"You didn't tell me your little brother was so cute!"

Cloud snorted, eyeing Roxas pityingly. "I was trying to spare him."

Rikku stuck her tongue out, smiling. "I'm not Tifa!"

"No, she at least has a sense of decency." Cloud returned.

Rikku looked shocked. "Cloud you're mean!"

Roxas disentangled his arm from Rikku's grasp and cleavage. "Yeah, he's like that."

Cloud reached over and ruffled Roxas' hair as he pushed past, followed by Leon, Cid came into the room then and crossed his arms.

"Eh Leon, why didn't you tell me you had a miracle worker for a brother?"

Leon looked confused. "You mean aside from the fact that they're both bearers?"

"No! Not that bit of nonsense, the boy let his bird hunt and the thing still is tame as a kitten!"

Now it was Leon's turn to look surprised. "He did what?"

"Is it that big a deal?" Sora asked, joining the group.

Cloud and Leon exchanged looks, "yes." They said in unison.

Cid snorted, "we've got to let Laguna have a talk with him."

"That will have to wait." Leon said, "we're bringing them back to the castle, the King is waiting for them."

"Eh, His Majesty is always waiting for someone, isn't this more important?"

"Cid, you know what the Heartless can do, more than most unfortunately."

Cid's face reddened, though it wasn't embarrassment that caused it. "Shut your mouth boy, I know what they can do by rights. Fine, get your brothers together and we'll go see the King."

Sora, Roxas, Leon, Cloud, and Big Red all waited outside the massive double doors that barred the way to the King's hall. Sora was dozing against Red's side and the chocobo had its head tucked under one wing. Leon was talking and joking with one of the guards while Roxas waited besides Cloud who was leaning against a column with his arms crossed.

"What did Leon mean?"

"What?" Cloud asked, opening his eyes to look at Roxas.

"When he said that Cid should know more than anyone what the Heartless can do."

"Cid lost his wife and little sister, Yuna and Aerith's mother, to the Heartless when Xehanort first started his experiments, it happened years ago, but Cid blames himself for supporting Xehanort's research."

Roxas looked over at Leon. "That's cruel, to say something like that to Cid."

Cloud shrugged. "You don't understand how important the two of you are. For whatever reason there are five bearers, and only five, and they are the only ones that can re-lock our world's heart and bring the Heartless to heel."

"Something's been bothering me, if the Heartless occur naturally, then why is what Xehanort did such a big deal?"

Cloud sighed; he didn't speak for a moment as he collected his thoughts.

"Naturally occurring Heartless are typically docile and only attack on rare occasions. Our world's heart prevents them from being overtly aggressive towards us. However when Xehanort unlocked the heart, he unleashed the Heartless by removing the restriction on their actions that the heart imposed. Things like what happened in Twilight Town will become increasingly common the longer the heart is left unlocked."

Before Roxas could ask any further questions the massive doors opened noiselessly. Maleficent stood in the newly opened doorway and gestured with her staff.

"The King awaits your presence."

They all entered in her wake, the King's other advisors were already assembled, Cid and Merlin stood to one side of the throne, off to one side a tall man with long silver hair and an impossibly long sword stood quietly as he watched the procession.

Sora leaned over to Roxas, whispering. "I think that's Sephiroth, Leon and Cloud's captain."

Roxas eyed Sephiroth, his eyes were cold and calculating, he caught Roxas' gaze and held it Roxas looked away with a shudder. This was someone he didn't want to cross, ever.

The King cleared his throat. "Well, now we have all our pieces in place for the time being."

Maleficent raised an eyebrow. "We are still short by two bearers Majesty."

Ansem nodded. "Yes, but for the time being we shall work with what we have, Sephiroth, I believe you wished to judge the bearers?"

Sephiroth waved his hand dismissively. "They won't hold up in combat. They're weak."

Maleficent smiled. "As I said Majesty, they are not Riku."

Ansem the Wise allowed himself a benign smile that quieted both Maleficent and Sephiroth. "Of course they're not Riku, they were actually raised in a normal family. Sir Sephiroth while I admire you greatly and your Elites have proven vital to our kingdom's peace you are hardly an ideal parent. All three of your sons are in the Elites are they not? As is your wife, the Lady Paine, hardly an environment which begets a normal childhood. Naturally Riku would be different from these two. I would thank you and you as well Maleficent to remember that diversity is not a weakness."

Sephiroth said nothing, while Maleficent bowed slightly as if in apology. Ansem steepled his fingers and stared at Roxas and Sora for a moment. "Now, we have the problem of only having three of five keys, however as I said we must make do with what we have."

He turned to look at Merlin. "I believe both boys will have need of your tutelage Merlin, as such I would ask that they be allowed to stay with you for the time being."

Ansem caste his blue eyed gaze to Leon and Cloud, "provided that is acceptable to their brothers."

Cloud and Leon bowed, speaking as one, "of course Your Majesty."

The King nodded. "Very well, I'll have their things moved to your residence Merlin; in the meantime, while they are not studying the boys may make whatever use of their time they wish until we can make further progress."

Sora stepped up next to Leon, whispering excitedly. "Does this mean I get to see Kairi?"

Leon smiled at him warmly. "You just don't quit, yeah, when you've finished your first lesson with Merlin you can see her."

Sora's face broke out in a smile and despite the crowd he hugged Leon tightly. Leon returned the gesture warmly ignoring the annoyed look that Sephiroth shot him for the public display.


	13. Chapter 13

"Ah, here we are." Merlin said, coming to a stop.

The boys blinked and looked around, they were in a dead end alley and there was nothing there.

Sora and Roxas exchanged looks before Sora spoke. "Uh…Merlin?"

"Yes?" The wizard said, turning to face them.

"There's nothing here."

"Oh?" Merlin blinked for a moment as if it had just occurred to him that Sora was right, his beard lifted in what must have been a smile as he raised his walking stick and struck the cobblestones with its tip. One moment there was a stone wall before them and then there was not.

The boys stood there staring dumbly at the archway that had appeared, Merlin waved them in. "Come on along come along, we have a lot to do."

They followed him through the stone arch and turned to see that same stone archway standing by itself with a view of the alley seen beyond it. Around its edges was just empty space. Neither of them said anything, they didn't know what they could say. They turned to look ahead, there was a large, crooked tower sitting on an island in the midst of a lake with no discernable pathway to reach it and Merlin was striding towards it easily. They hurried to catch up.

"What do you think will happen this time?" Roxas asked uncertainly.

Sora's eyes were alight. "Maybe alligators will come up and make a bridge for us, or the water is an illusion and we can just walk across, or maybe there's an invisible path, or may—"

"Sora, stop please, you're making my head hurt. Let's try to stay realistic." Roxas pleaded.

Merlin took the first step out over the water, several cobblestones flew out from beneath the surface to meet his foot and as he walked a bridge began to materialize. Merlin stopped and turned to gaze calmly at the boys.

"Come along, don't tarry. The bridge isn't permanent after all."

With this bit of prodding they caught up to him and followed Merlin's easy stride across as the bridge formed before them and melted back into the water behind them. Sora looked over at Roxas, who was muttering to himself.

"This isn't happening, this is all a dream."

Sora smiled and patted him on the back. "It's okay, you're not crazy."

Roxas shot him a glance that said that he was not helping, Sora had the distinct feeling that Roxas would much rather have been crazy than have this be real.

Merlin pushed open the door and led them inside to a living room that looked as if a very cleanly tornado had touched down in its midst. There were stacks of books, scrolls, manuscripts, parchments, models, and everything imaginable lying everywhere all stacked very neatly, if haphazardly around the room.

"Who are you?" A sharp, shrill voice called out.

Both boys jumped, Merlin looked upwards. "Ah Archimedes, kindly come down and say hello to our two guests."

Sora looked up to see a small owl sticking its head out of a wooden bird house that hung from the ceiling staring at them curiously with big yellow eyes.

"You have a talking pet owl?"

The owl had moved out onto the small perch attached to its house and now puffed up indignantly. "Pet owl, I beg your pardon!"  
Merlin chuckled as the owl ducked back inside its house in a huff. "Oh come now Archimedes, he's just a boy."

Archimedes stuck his head out and looked around. "Boy? I see no boy."

Sora frowned as Merlin leaned close and whispered to him. "Don't mind him; he gets cantankerous when he's been out all night."

"He's an owl; he must go out every night." Roxas pointed out.

"Oh," Merlin blinked and chuckled again at this sudden revelation. "Come, let's have lunch."

He led them through the maze of books to a table with a tea set and platters of cookies and sandwiches laid out upon it. The boys took their seats and watched as Merlin tried to sit on mid-air. He frowned when he felt nothing beneath him and turned to look around in confusion. There was a great red armchair sitting behind him and he smiled fondly at it, beckoning it with a finger. The chair stood up and walked up behind him in a sort of bouncing drag; his chair found, Merlin sat down.

"Now, we have tea, the sandwiches and cookies are fresh so please help yourselves."

As he spoke the teapot picked itself up and scuttled over to each boy's cup in turn and poured them a cup.

"Sugar?" Merlin inquired.

"Yes please." Sora said eagerly, wondering what would happen next.

Merlin clapped, "sugar!"

A small pewter pot danced out across the table towards Sora, he watched in fascination as it took off its lid and began heaping out sugar into Sora's cup.

"Say when lad."

"When," Sora called.

The sugar pot promptly stopped and danced over to Roxas and began pouring out sugar for him as well. He said when almost immediately.

Merlin had turned to stand and offered a cup to Archimedes' house, the owl's foot shot out and grasped the cup, vanishing again without a word.

"Now," Merlin said sitting down. "What do you know about magic?"

Roxas swallowed his sandwich. "Not a lot."

"Well that's no matter; the King of course wants the two of you to have some basic grasp of a few essential spells, simple healing, defensive, offensive, and support magic; nothing that the village fool couldn't wrap his head around."

"Yes but we have a village idiot." Archimedes' supplied from above their heads.

Merlin scowled up at him. "Now Archimedes he didn't mean any harm."

It was then that Merlin looked at his teacup; the sugar pot had piled a small mountain of sugar upon it and was even now piling more sugar into the already inundated cup.

"When, when! Blast it all when!" He bellowed.

The pot jumped in alarm and scampered away hurriedly, cowering behind the teapot. Merlin viciously swept away the sugar with his beard, scowling at the sugar pot. Sora and Roxas couldn't help themselves, they burst out laughing; after a moment Merlin joined in the laughter, taking off his spectacles and wiping his eyes as he seated himself again.

"Forgive me; I'm afraid magic gets the better of me at times." He eyed them severely, expressly Sora. "And don't either of you get any ideas into your heads that magic will solve all your problems, because it won't. As a matter of fact in my experience it frequently compounds them. That is why a certain amount of maturity and discipline is required in the execution of the arcane arts."

Roxas looked over at Sora's eager face, half-heartedly eating his sandwich. He wondered if Sora was capable of being mature or disciplined for that matter. Not for the first time he found himself wondering if this was a good idea.

There was a chime and Archimedes stuck his head out of his house. "Who is it now?"

Merlin frowned, stroking his beard. "I'm not certain; Archimedes would you mind letting our new guests in?"

"I would." The owl stated plainly.

Merlin sighed and looked up at the owl, lighting a pipe and clenching it in his teeth as he and Archimedes eyed each other.

"I'll turn you into a human."

"Hah! You wouldn't dare!"

"I would, so help me I would."

Archimedes puffed up for a moment before lifting from his perch and flying out through a window set high in the wall expressly for that purpose.

Merlin chuckled as he sat back in his chair puffing out smoke rings. "That gets him every time, remarkable."

A few moments later Archimedes fluttered back through his hole and alighted on a small perch besides the table, ruffling his feathers as he cleared his throat.

"Well?" Merlin asked.

"There are two men from the Elites with two girls and a chocobo here who say they are the boys' brothers."

"Kairi and Namine," Sora exclaimed excitedly.

"Ah, and the men would be Leon and Cloud, well then let them in of course."

Archimedes' feathers fluffed. "I did, now I bid good day to all of you, good day!"

With that he lifted off and tucked himself away into his house hanging from the ceiling yet again. There was a knock on the door and Sora got up excitedly to answer it, he threw the door open with a bang and was greeted by Leon and Cloud.

Leon smiled at Sora. "Did you really think I'd make you wait any longer?"

Behind him, Big Red chirped excitedly at the sight of the boys, Cloud held onto newly fitted reins and kept the big bird in check as Leon stepped aside.

Kairi smiled at Sora. "Hi Sora, you've grown."

Sora didn't say anything; he wrapped Kairi in a hug she returned it as he squeezed her, tears stinging his eyes.

"I missed you." He said.

She looked up at him and smiled warmly. "Silly, we shared a paupu remember? There was no way we'd never get to see each other again."

Namine grinned and leaned between the two. "Hi Sora."

Sora smiled sheepishly, "sorry."

He hugged her too, Namine giggled. "It's okay; we all know you have a crush on my sister."

Leon ruffled Sora's hair, wrapping an arm around his head. "You didn't seriously think I'd make you wait any longer to see them did you?"

Sora pushed Leon off, "actually yes, I did."

Leon snorted as Merlin and Roxas joined the party in the entryway.

Merlin stroked his beard. "Hmm, it seems we are going to have an easier time of the first lesson than I thought."

Everyone looked at one another, not sure what to make of the old wizard's comment, he turned from them and beckoned them back inside the tower.

"Come along come along, the lessons won't teach themselves and we have an audience now after all."

Big Red tried to follow them inside but Merlin pointed his stick in the bird's nose.

"Not you my friend, I'm afraid I can't have you running about my home."

The chocobo chirped sadly, warbling at Sora who came over and stroked the chocobo's head gently.

He frowned at the harness strapped around Red's body. He went around and began removing all the straps, Red chirped, this time happily. Kairi moved to help him, standing next to him as they tried to figure out which buckles to remove first.

Leon snorted. "And he was worried that she'd forgotten about him."

"Are they really that close?" Roxas asked.

Cloud shrugged, "stupid question."

Roxas flushed a little, but seeing how much Sora was smiling as he and Kairi unharnessed Red it was a bit of a stupid question.

Namine stood besides him, "those two have always been close. I think their hearts call out to one another no matter how far apart they are."

Roxas didn't say anything, as Sora and Kairi finished finally Merlin cleared his throat.

"Well now that's all over with, come along. We haven't got all day."

The group followed him once again as they made their way inside, Archimedes flew down and perched upon the tip of Merlin's hat, bobbing up and down as they made their way through the maze of odds and ends towering over their heads. Sora pointed towards the table where they'd eaten, the tea pot was jousting with the sugar pot. Kairi giggled, calling Namine's attention to it as well who smiled faintly as she watched the tea set battle itself. Merlin led them to the far side of the maze and then up a winding set of stairs that led them up to another level, this one completely empty and immaculate though it was well lit by comparison.

"Ah here we are then, now Leon, Cloud, I believe the two of you know how to use combat magic already?"

Cloud nodded, Merlin smiled. "Splendid, splendid, then you shall demonstrate the basics."

He tapped the floor and with a pop, a dresser appeared in the center of the room. Everyone, even Leon and Cloud, exchanged uncertain glances; no one was sure what was going to happen next. Merlin tapped his stick against the wood floor again and the dresser rose up, hovering above the floorboards with its drawers clattering menacingly at the assembled party.

Merlin chuckled merrily. "Now then, let's begin!"


	14. Chapter 14

Cloud and Leon slumped down on a bench that Merlin had conjured forth; their bare torso's glistening with sweat as they drank the water offered to them by Kairi.

"Is that enough Merlin?" Leon panted, whipping sweat from his brow.

Merlin chuckled. "Oh yes, I think a full hour of castings is enough to give them an idea."

Sora and Roxas simply stood in silence, their eyes wide as they looked at their older siblings. The past hour had been spent watching Cloud and Leon turn assorted articles of flying furniture into kindling using various spells. The most comical incident had been when Leon's concentration had flagged for a moment and he'd gotten abducted by Merlin's bed, Cloud had then cast some kind of gravity spell and sent the offending bed spiraling to the floor with Leon in tow.

Merlin turned to Sora and Roxas. "So are you ready to try it?"

Sora nodded eagerly. "Yeah I'm going to beat their time too!"

Cloud snorted, "fat chance."

Leon was kinder about it. "You can't."

Sora frowned. "What do you mean I can't? You did."

Merlin chuckled. "Yes, they went for an entire hour of casting and look at them, they're exhausted. Magic draws energy from your body; it takes months of training to be able to do what your brothers did and survive."

Cloud managed a smile. "If you think what we do is impressive Sora, you should see Zack or Sephiroth, they're both in an entirely different league when it comes to tactical magic."

"Wait, so if we can't do what they did, what do you expect us to do instead?" Roxas asked as he watched the splintered and shattered furniture reassemble itself out on the floor.

"Oh I hardly expect you to do anything of the caliber of your brothers' performance. However you should be able to manage a few minor elemental spells."

"You still haven't explained how any of this works." Roxas grumbled.

"Oh it's quite simple really. Visualize what you want to happen and speak a word you associate with the action. Your energy will do the rest." Merlin supplied, waving his hand dismissively.

"Magic can't be that simple." Roxas said.

"Oh and why not?"

"Because if all it takes is someone thinking of something happening and giving it voice then anyone could make lightening strike their neighbor at whim."

Merlin's beard lifted in a smile. "Oh you are a clever lad. Do you want to know the secret?"

Roxas and Sora waited, Roxas had no idea what to expect but it had to be something special to enable someone to call forth ice or fire from thin air.

"Belief," Merlin stated simply.

"What?" Roxas said, blinking in confusion.

Merlin chuckled. "To put it simply, the reason why people don't go around electrocuting their neighbor's everyday is because people believe they can't."

"So you're saying all it takes is my mind saying I can do it and then vocalizing it and that's it?"

Merlin nodded. "Of course there are those like Yen Sid, Maleficent, and myself who have much more practice and can simply think of a spell and it happens. But that's hardly everyone."

Sora looked thoughtfully at a floating armchair; he pointed his hands at it. "Ice."

There was a crackling and the chair fell to the ground, shattering into thousands of frozen shards.

Sora stared dumbstruck, then turned to another piece of furniture. "Fire."

This next piece of furniture burst into flames and quickly disintegrated into ash and cinders.

Merlin clapped his hands appreciatively. "There we go, he's getting the idea. Now you try lad."

Roxas swallowed and held out his hand to the same bed that had scooped up Leon earlier. "Fire."

Nothing happened, Roxas frowned and tried again, once more nothing happened. He looked back at Merlin with a frown to find the old wizard smiling.

"I told you that you have to believe, I'm afraid it won't work otherwise."

"Come on Roxas, you can do it." Sora said, urging him on.

"Hmph, pin feathers," supplied Archimedes from atop Merlin's hat. "The boy simply doesn't believe in any of this. The only way he will perform magic is if someone gives him a caster and even then I doubt it."

"Oh come now Archimedes you're not to insult my pupils." Merlin said, poking the owl with his walking stick.

Archimedes puffed up indignantly. "Pin feathers and gully fluff!"

Namine smiled gently and walked up besides Roxas, taking his hand in hers. "I believe you can do it. Here," she took his hand, lacing her fingers with his and pointing them at a large mirror. "Just imagine your spell striking it."

Roxas swallowed nervously as Namine stood besides him, his face reddened slightly as he tried to concentrate on the spell and not the warmth she filled him with.

"Thunder."

For a moment there was nothing, then with a crackling hiss the mirror was alight with electricity, the glass shattered and the wood charred. Sora cheered, clapping Roxas on the back as Leon and Cloud congratulated him as well. He wasn't paying attention to any of it though; his eyes were focused on Namine's face as his heart climbed into his throat.

"Excellent!" Merlin said cheerily, "now again!"

They'd reassembled outside of the local ice cream parlor, and their group had grown now to include Rikku and Yuna as well as Sora, Roxas, Namine, Kairi, Leon, and Cloud with Big Red as ever in tow though the big bird had taken the lull to nap a short distance away from them with his head ducked under a wing.

"So you guys spent all that time casting? It must be exhausting." Yuna said, licking her ice cream as she spoke.

"Yeah, it was really intense. I never realized that magic could be so simple though. I always thought it took years of practice and studying." Sora said, Kairi was leaning on his shoulder and he had an arm around her despite the redness of his face.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "You're just doing the basic tactical spells. Anyone can master those. There are much more advanced castings that require years of training and study. You couldn't manage the thought casting that mages like Maleficent or Merlin can perform. This is all basic, even Roxas can manage it."

Roxas glared at his brother. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Cloud smirked. "It means even someone who can barely accept that magic works can manage a few jolts of electricity."

Roxas turned bright red and focused on his ice cream, Rikku wrapped her arms around him, thankfully today she was wearing a full jumpsuit instead of just a bikini and shorts, granted it was form fitting which wasn't much better in Roxas' mind.

"Ah, be nice to him Cloud, he'll get the hang of it."

"Yes, I'm sure he will. He just has to accept that he can do it despite how bizarre it might seem."

Roxas managed a smile at Namine, Rikku leaned over him towards her, giggling. "Hey no fair, I saw him first."

Namine smiled coyly. "It's okay, he'll figure it out."

Everyone paused and looked between the two girls, Leon and Cloud exchanged amused glances. Then Cloud's face sank.

"Oh god, I'd been doing so well too."

Leon snorted and patted Cloud on the back. "So she wants to have your children what's the big deal?"

If looks could kill Leon would have dropped dead right then and there, as it was Cloud's death seemed far more imminent from the expression that was slowly forming on his face.

"Cloud, what are you doing here? I've been looking for you! No one at the barracks knew where you'd run off to."

Cloud sighed and looked up at the woman approaching them.

Roxas leaned forwards and whispered to make sure he recognized the right person.

"Tifa?"

"Tifa," Cloud affirmed with a nod.

Tifa stood in front of Cloud and leaned over him scowling. "I swear you're hopeless don't you remember what we're supposed to be doing tonight?"

Cloud looked at her blankly, besides him Leon's eyes widened. "Shit, the dinner."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "Well I'm glad one of you blockheads remembered, Rinoa's waiting for you at the house Leon."

Cloud sighed. "Our little brother's just got into town Tifa you know that, can't we have a rain check for another night?"

Tifa looked at Sora, Roxas, Namine, Kairi, Rikku, and Yuna with a smile. "I think we can manage to fit them all in too. What do you say guys, want to come to dinner?"

"You know it!" Rikku chimed in.

Yuna smiled nervously. "If you're sure it's alright."

Tifa waved her hand. "Dad and Mom aren't going to mind having more company. What about you four?"

Sora looked over at Cloud uncertainly, Kairi nudged him. "Yeah sure, we'll come."

Cloud looked rather miserable as everyone agreed to go to the dinner and Tifa dragged him to his feet.

She smiled at him. "One of these days you're going to stop being such a baby about this."

He didn't say anything, just allowed her to drag him along as the rest of the group followed her.

Roxas caught up with Leon. "What's the deal with those two?"

Leon smiled. "She's madly in love with Cloud, and Cloud won't admit that he likes her too so instead he acts like she annoys him." He leaned down and whispered. "He's so used to being laconic that he has no idea what he's supposed to do with a girl."

Roxas snorted, yeah that sounded like Cloud alright, then Rikku latched onto his arm and he turned bright red, maybe it was like him too.

Yuffie answered the door and grinned up at Tifa as she spied the small parade following in her wake.

"Sis, you were supposed to bring Cloud 'n' Leon, not an entire party."

Tifa returned the smile. "Yeah well they forgot about the dinner and wouldn't come without the entire entourage."

"Is that Tifa?" A man's voice called from inside the house.

"Yeah Dad," Yuffie called back, "she brought Leon and Cloud and half of Hollow Bastion."

There was no response, and then a man with long black hair and wearing a cooking apron stepped out into the hallway and glanced curiously towards the doorway.

"What on earth is all this Tifa?"

Tifa ran up to him and kissed Laguna on the cheek as he continued to eye the group curiously.

"Sorry sir," Cloud said with a salute. "She insisted we bring everyone."

"At ease, we're not on duty. Well since you're all here, come on in."

Tifa frowned at Cloud. "You were the one who said you wouldn't go without your brothers."

Laguna raised a hand to quell the oncoming fight. "Alright that's enough, Tifa Yuffie, drag Cloud into the kitchen and help your mother, Leon Rinoa's upstairs."

He eyed the remainder of the group as Cloud was dragged off as ordered and Leon went off another side passage. Laguna began to open his mouth again then paused as Red chirped curiously from outside.

He raised an eyebrow. "You brought a chocobo?"

"Well he kind of follows us all over the place." Sora explained.

Laguna nodded with a knowing smile and an amused glint in his eyes. "Yes they'll do that, my black Baast does the same thing if I don't stick him in the stables."

He walked past the five of them and stepped up to Red.

"You don't keep him bridled?" He observed with a frown.

Sora shook his head. "I don't like having him tied up."

Laguna nodded thoughtfully and walked around Red who turned his head to follow Laguna's movements, chirping curiously.

Laguna knelt down and examined Red's legs and feet. "This is a well bred bird; I imagine he's a pretty powerful bird in a scrape."

"Yeah, he helped us fight Heartless in the forest; they seemed pretty frightened of him."

Laguna nodded absently. "Yes, I heard about it in the barracks. The two bearers and their chocobo; is it true you also let him hunt?"

"Well yeah, we didn't have any other way of feeding him." Sora said, recalling what Cid had said about Laguna needing to talk to him about that.

Laguna's mouth stretched in a pleased smile. "That's impressive, it's near impossible to control them once they're allowed to hunt. Their instincts kick in and they tend to realize that they're supposed to be on the top of the food chain."

Before Laguna could continue another brunette stepped into the doorway with her arms crossed. "Dear I don't mind you bringing work home with you but stop boring the children with it."

Laguna snorted and stepped up to her, kissing her before she could say anything. She pushed him away and scowled. "Get in there and help your daughters and poor Cloud with dinner before they break him."

"Yes ma'am." Laguna teased.

Julia turned to face them rolling her eyes. "I swear he's impossible. Come on, I might be a disaster in the kitchen but we can at least set the table."


	15. Chapter 15

Once Laguna took command of the kitchen dinner got underway swiftly, with the added guest list it took a little longer than had been planned and there was a call for more dishes which he spent no time in directing his kitchen staff consisting of Cloud, Tifa, Yuiffie, Rinoa, and Leon to prepare. Under Julia's direction the table was set just as swiftly and she made sure that it looked fit for a banquet that the King would have been jealous of, she might not have been much of a cook but Julia knew how to run a household.

Laguna stuck his head out of the kitchen and into the dining room. "Who wants to run to the market?"

"Oh Laguna don't have anyone run off right before dinner, it's almost ready. We'll have enough."

Laguna shook his head. "Dinner won't be ready for awhile. I want someone to run down and get some appetizers to tide everyone over."

Julia scowled at him but before she could further object Rikku volunteered.

"Roxas and I will go!"

Roxas looked up from silverware he was setting, "we will?"

"Yeah, come on I need help carrying the stuff." Rikku said dragging Roxas towards the front door.

Roxas looked helplessly at the rest of the party as Laguna returned to the kitchen; Julia sighed and shook her head returning to the table. Sora was grinning at him as Rikku tugged on Roxas in an effort to get him to hurry and everyone else was studiously ignoring his silent plea for help; all except for Namine who walked over to them, speaking quietly.

"You shouldn't go Roxas."

Rikku smiled at her, "you want to come with us?"

Namine shook her head. "It isn't that." She said, looking worriedly at them.

Kairi had looked up now, watching the trio, her eyes following Namine with a frown.

"It's just," Namine began anew, "I don't think you should go."

Rikku snorted. "What's that supposed to mean? Come on Roxas."

She pulled him towards the door and Roxas went along with her, casting a backwards glance at Namine who stood there watching them, she looked truly worried but he couldn't understand what she was so worried about. They went outside into the evening air, Big Red chirped at them lazily from his spot by the door where he'd curled up, he yawned and ducked his head back under his wing which made Rikku giggle.

"You know Dad would never let us have a pet, you and Sora are lucky you found him."

"He found us." Roxas said, eying the big bird as they walked past.

"Well still, you're lucky."

They walked in silence for a while after that, the sky growing dimmer as the sun set over the city and the street lamps came on, Rikku pressed closer to Roxas as it got colder, leaning on his shoulder.

"It's beautiful."

Roxas blinked and looked at her. "What?"

"The sky, it's beautiful."

Roxas looked up; the first of the three moons was crawling up over the city and in the reddish glow from the second moon was visible over the roof tops. The third moon was never visible except on special nights when light from the sun hit it properly. It was always dark otherwise.

"Yeah, it really is." He murmured as he stared up at the sky with her.

The market was in view now; its neon sign glimmered in the night air flickering cheerily.

Rikku stopped suddenly, "what is it?" Roxas asked.

She smiled at him mischievously, "it's just that with such a beautiful night it seems a shame to waste it."

"What do you mean?" Roxas asked nervously, feeling heat rising to his face.

Rikku continued to smile as she turned to him and put her hands on his chest, pushing him back playfully. Roxas flushed as she pressed him up against the wall, the lamplight flickering above them as she kissed him lightly on the lips. Smiling, she took his hands and placed them on her hips.

"Unzip me."

Roxas swallowed. "I--"

She put a finger on his lips. "You've never done this before." She said, and for a change she blushed. "Neither have I, but I want to, don't worry, I have clothes on underneath."

Desperately he looked over towards the market and realized why Rikku had chosen this particular spot to push him against the wall. They were in a small recess and out of sight of anyone on the street unless they were standing right next to them. Roxas felt his heart beat intensify as he realized how doomed he was. He reluctantly reached up behind the nape of her neck and found the zipper to her jumpsuit, sliding it down slowly, as he did so Rikku shrugged it off her shoulders and let it fall down around her hips to reveal her so called clothing to be an oragne bikini top that went around her neck and tied at her back Roxas flushed a deeper shade of red as she pressed against him, kissing him tenderly and running her hands through his hair. Despite his want to stop all this, Roxas didn't, he'd never been kissed like this, and in fact he'd never done anything that even approached this. He pushed back, holding Rikku against him, feeling her stomach rise and fall as she leaned into him.

They broke the kiss, and she smiled, her eyes closed for a moment before opening, the green orbs sparkling as she leaned against him. "Wow, let's do that again."

She pressed her lips to his again, and this time Roxas responded kissing back and putting a hand on the back of her head and another on her hip. She tasted nice, sweet if a person could taste sweet, and cool. His embarrassment was pushed aside for the moment by the simple fact that he was enjoying this. He was still flushed red and didn't even know if he liked Rikku really, but he liked this moment in time that they were sharing...and that was enough right? Somewhere in his mind Namine flashed into existence but he paid the thought no mind, kissing Rikku further as they leaned against the wall. Rikku took his head in her hands, lifting a leg up and wrapping it around his waist, pulling herself up against him, kissing him passionately as Roxas' hand found its way underneath her raised leg, pulling her closer.

His eyes were closed, but he could still see the light through his eyelids and when it began to flicker he frowned against Rikku's lips, breaking the kiss to look up. Frowning, he pushed he back and looked up as the street lamp above their heads flickered out of existence. He swallowed, pushing Rikku off of him and stepping back into the suddenly dark street and looked to see other lamps all along the street doing the same.

Rikku shivered, leaning her head against him and putting her arms around him. "Cold isn't it."

Yes Roxas thought with a frown, it was getting cold it had been a warm night a moment ago; terror sank into his stomach, no, not here, not right now please not with her. Even as he wished to be wrong more lights flickered out of existence, the market's cheery neon sign vanished within the encroaching shadows, even the light from the moons was gone now.

"Rikku," he murmured, finding his voice, his mouth dry. "Stay close to me."

She looked at him, frowning. "What's the matter? It's just a power outage, they happen."

He shook his head. "It's just like the time Sora and I first were attacked back home."

He felt Rikku's grip on him tighten, her voice trembled. "Heartless here but they never come into Hollow Bastion!"

Roxas shook his head, his arms around Rikku protectively. "I don't think they care."

"What are we going to do?"

Roxas let go of her and held out his hands, his keyblades snapping into being and casting a soft light around them, illuminating a small circle in which they stood.

"Stay close, don't get separated."

Rikku nodded, then reached for him and pulled him in for a fierce, desperate kiss. Roxas' arms wrapped around her waist automatically, his keyblades crossing behind her back; as she broke the kiss she pressed her face against his cheek.

"Kick their butts."

Roxas nodded, his heart chilled, could he really protect her? He wasn't sure, he and Sora had only barely managed to stay alive during the three attacks they'd been through together, and now he was alone with a defenseless girl. No, he shook his head, he had to protect her.

There was a sudden hissing, a ghostly whisper in the dark and Roxas saw the first pair of glowing eyes appear. The hissing was joined by chattering and scraping against the cobblestones as more eyes appeared. The Heartless danced in and out of the light cast by his keyblades, as if unsure of how safe it was to step within their glow.

Rikku stood behind him, between Roxas and the wall leaning against his back as she gazed at the ever growing number of eyes watching them.

"Roxas, I'm scared."

He reached behind himself and pressed his clenched left hand against hers, she gripped his hand tightly squeezing.

"It'll be okay Rikku, we'll be alright." Roxas said, though he didn't believe a word of what he was saying, already there were more than two dozen pairs of eyes and he had already seen several Heartless in the shadows that he didn't recognize which only served to further frighten him. Roxas' mind raced as he tried to think of anything he could do to really protect Rikku, he didn't want her hurt.

"Rikku, I want you to stay by the wall and when I move run for Laguna's and don't stop."

Rikku looked at him. "Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you here by yourself!"

Roxas took a deep breath, trying to sound braver than he felt. "They only come after bearers, they won't bother with you. The second time Sora and I were attacked they only attacked other people if they got in the way. You'll be safe, trust me."

She swallowed, taking a deep breath before nodding. "Okay, Roxas?"

"Yes?"

She turned him around and kissed him, there were tears in her eyes as she smiled, he noticed for the first time just how vibrantly colored her eyes really were as she looked at him.

"Don't die okay? I'll never forgive you."

He managed a smile, laughing a little even as the Heartless hissed in the shadows around them shifting from side to side and gnashing their teeth.

"Go."

He turned and rushed at the nearest pair of eyes, screaming as much to intimidate the Heartless as to let out his own ill ease. The nearest Heartless reared up, hissing and slashing as he ducked under its wild swings and severed both arms before cutting it in two. Another Heartless leapt at him and he caught it with both his blades across the face, taking its head clean off in a shower of black mist. The other Heartless rushed him then, and he swung at anything that moved he could hear the screeching of the Heartless as he killed them but his mind was numbed to the horrible noise. He never saw Rikku run, but when he had a moment to look where she'd been standing she was gone and that was all that mattered to him.

He began backing off, now that Rikku was safely away he didn't have to fight so hard, he could relax and wait for them to come to him. The Heartless kept their distance, though they were slowly closing a noose around him, chattering like thousands of insects as they bobbed around him. There was a scream, at first Roxas thought it was his own, then he realized it wasn't him and his heart froze. He turned towards the sound and ran, hacking his way through any Heartless that were in his way.

Roxas came to a stop, the light from his keyblades illuminating the scene in front of him. There was a massive Heartless standing before him, it looked like someone had mated the worst parts of dogs, bears, and cats into one animal. Its long whip-like tail ended in a vicious spike that it thrashed back and forth and its head was massive, lined with teeth that had to be the size of his little finger. That wasn't what he was staring at though; he was staring at Rikku, lying prone beneath a massive clawed foot on the cobblestones in a pool of blood.

The Heartless stepped off of her body and turned towards him, its teeth bared as it snarled, it was more aggressive than the Heartless he'd just fought but he didn't think of that, rage welled up inside of him, he'd told her she'd be safe, that she could run and they wouldn't follow. He'd been wrong. Roxas ran at the Heartless swinging wildly, its tail lashed around and whipped one of his blades out of his hand but he swung with the other blade, driving it into the creature's belly. It howled in agony and sank its teeth into his shoulder as he dug the blade deeper. Tense moments passed as they remained locked like that, then its grip slackened and it melted away with a mournful howl.

Roxas dropped his blades, ignoring the blood and pain from his shoulder and went to Rikku, rolling her over and holding her in his arms.

"Rikku?"

When she didn't answer, he licked his lips, leaned down and kissed her, tasting blood in her mouth. At first there was no reaction, but then she responded, kissing back weakly. He broke the kiss and tried smiling at her as she opened her eyes and looked up at him.

She smiled her eyes vibrant even as blood trickled from her mouth. "Rox….as?"

"I'm here Rikku, you're safe."

There was no response; her eyes were vacant as she stared at him, her mouth frozen in a smile. Roxas shook her, tears falling down his cheeks as he sobbed and pressed his head against her, blood smearing his face as the lights along the street flickered on above his head. He screamed then, and this time he knew it was his voice crying out. When the others found him, he was still clutching Rikku's lifeless corpse to himself and rocking back and forth sobbing. Cloud had to pry him away from her, kicking and screaming all the while as they took Rikku away before blood loss caught up with him and Roxas lost consciousness.


	16. Extra: Alternate CH 15

Author's Note: Alright so I picked the darker of the two chapters, but this lighter one gave me some ideas so look for scenes inspired by this chapter in the future. Also my friend pointed out that I like picking on Roxas, and yes, I really do, Sora just isn't nearly as fun to tease.

Sora slapped Roxas on the back. "Come on cheer up, this is fun!"

Roxas smiled at him weakly, this wasn't exactly his idea of fun. Laguna had chased them out of the house, claiming that he wouldn't have dinner ready soon enough and Julia had then suggested a dance hall that she frequented with Laguna where they could spend the evening and even get a bite to eat. So now here they were and Roxas was feeling miserably embarrassed, he didn't know how to dance though that hadn't stopped Sora from making a complete idiot of himself with Kairi and later Yuna. It didn't help that Leon and Cloud seemed to have been given lessons somewhere along the line during their military career and were taking turns dancing with everyone.

"Roxas come on, go ask Rikku for a dance." Sora teased.

"No." Roxas said, glaring at him.

"Well what about Namine?"

Roxas face turned red. "No thanks."

"I think I can help."

Both of them looked up, Rinoa was standing over them, smiling warmly, both boys blushed and looked around for Leon, they found him dancing with Yuna out on the floor.

Rinoa reached down and took Roxas' hand. "Come on, just one dance."

"But I ca—"

She held up a finger, forestalling his protests and smiling fondly. "Neither could Leon, he tripped all over me the first time we went dancing together, but you'll never learn if you don't try."

She reached out with her hands; reluctantly Roxas took them and let himself be guided out onto the floor. Rinoa took a moment to put his hands where they should be, a task made a little awkward by their height difference. Roxas took a deep breath as she took the first step.

"Now follow where I lead okay? It isn't that hard once you get the steps."

He nodded dumbly, trying to keep up with her as she began to sway and step with the music. Roxas trembled as he followed, then stumbled over her feet, he turned bright red.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Rinoa smiled, "its okay, Leon has bigger feet."

They started again and this time it took him several steps before fumbling, Rinoa continued smiling all the while, it was then Roxas realized that they'd become the center of attention for everyone else in their group.

He let go of Rinoa. "I don't think I can do this."

She grabbed him and laughed. "Oh no you don't, you're not running away now."

This time they started slowly, and Roxas found it easier to follow her as they began stepping across the floor, Leon danced by them with Yuna and shot him a teasing glare.

"Stop stealing my girlfriend."

Roxas flushed, but Rinoa stuck her tongue out at Leon. "You ran off with someone you dirty old man; I'm not going to wait around for you."

Leon laughed joined by Yuna who giggled, also blushing. Roxas couldn't believe they were joking about this but he supposed that it made sense to them. Everyone was always talking about how Leon and Rinoa were practically married, and they certainly teased one another like it. An image of Laguna and Julia came to mind and he tried imagining Leon and Rinoa in the same situation, disturbingly it was fairly easy to do.

Rinoa led them away from Leon and Yuna, still going slowly but Roxas was beginning to find his feet finally and that at least meant he wasn't stepping on her anymore.

"You see?" Rinoa said gently, "you're getting into it now. You know what comes next?"

Roxas shook his head, wondering what could come after this. He was dancing wasn't he? Rinoa looked over his head for a moment and smiled coyly.

"This," she spun him around and pushed him, he ended up in Rikku's arms.

"Uh…." He said stupidly, his face scarlet.

Rikku simply smiled and put her arms around him. "Come on, you've been practicing right?"

He nodded, taking a deep breath, wondering what he'd done to deserve any of this. Though really there were worse things he could imagine being done to him that were considerably less pleasant than having to dance with Rikku, several of those things perpetrated by Rikku no less.

She smiled at him. "You've been avoiding me."

"No I haven't."

Giggling she began to sway against him. "Then why haven't you asked me to dance?"

"I don't know how to dance." Roxas protested.

"You danced with Rinoa."

"She danced with me!"

Rikku stuck her tongue out, putting her arms around his neck and leaning against his chest. "Sure Roxas, you're cute."

He flushed and looked away nervously as they shuffled back and forth to the music, Rikku breathed deeply as she leaned against him, a secret smile on her face. Roxas heart was beating a mile a minute, and he felt that at any moment he'd flee the floor without a single look back. Of course he wasn't going to do that, nearby he saw Sora dancing with Yuffie, or at least trying to dance, Sora was laughing and enjoying the fact that he looked idiotic. How did he do this so easily when Roxas was so flustered?

"Hey, you're looking at the wrong person." Rikku said, turning his head to look at her as she smiled at him.

"Sorry," he murmured.

Rikku licked her lips and considered him a moment before leaning forwards and kissing him on the cheek, giggling as Roxas' blush spread over his face.

He stumbled and stepped on her foot, she squeaked and jumped back. "Sorry!"

She put her hands on her hips and laughed cheerily. "For what, I didn't think you could learn after one lesson." Rikku came back up to him and reattached herself to his waist. "Besides you're doing fine."

Roxas swallowed as she whispered this last bit and reached up into his hair, running her hands through it. His heart beat like a drum in his chest, though it sounded more like it had moved into his skull. Rikku watched his eyes, her own glowing green as she studied his face for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and leaned forwards, Roxas balked, feeling now more than ever the urge to run as her lips pursed.

"Hey hold on."

Rikku's eyes widened as she was pulled away from Roxas.

"You haven't danced with me yet Rikku." Leon chided.

Roxas breathed a sigh of relief; Rikku looked over her shoulder at him as Leon led her away. "I'll get you next time."

He shot Leon an expression he hoped conveyed thanks, and felt his heart sink as Leon grinned at him in a very mischievous fashion. Now what?

There was a tap on his shoulder, Yuna stood there smiling at him, holding Namine by the shoulders. Namine looked just as nervous as Roxas felt.

"Someone's been watching you." Yuna said gently, as she propelled Namine into Roxas' arms, the pair blushed as Roxas looked to Yuna questioningly.

"You don't need to worry about Rikku, the rest of us will keep her busy."

That hadn't been what he'd been wondering about at all, it was more why Yuna was pushing Namine into his arms instead of Rikku. The pair looked at one another for a moment before Namine managed a smile. Roxas thought it was beautiful and his heart sounded like a symphony in that moment.

"Would you like to dance?"

He nodded; they both tried to take the first step and ended up fumbling into one another. They looked at one another nervously before both starting to laugh.

"Okay, you lead." Namine said.

Roxas nodded, being careful this time not to step on anyone's toes. They started off slowly but easily moved into a more fluid and graceful step. Of course neither knew really how to dance, and to Roxas' surprise Namine was worse than him, so their grace was to the extent of not bumping into one another or stepping on each other's toes. Namine took a deep breath and leaned against Roxas, looping her arms around his waist.

"I'm glad we came here."

Roxas blushed as he looked down at her. "Why?"

She looked up at him, her eyes beautifully blue. "Because you're safe and no one will get hurt."

He blinked, frowning. "What?"

She smiled and leaned her head against him again. "Nothing, I just want to dance."

He nodded, still not entirely sure what she had been talking about but not particularly caring. He simply enjoyed the feeling of Namine leaning against him as they continued to dance, this song in particular was gentle and slow, it gave them time together and to Roxas it seemed to never end and when it finally did end and Namine released him he felt sad. Since Rikku did not return to harass him he made his way to Sora, who was sitting with Yuna, Kairi was asleep on his lap.

"What happened?" Sora asked.

"The dance ended."

"That's not what I meant." Sora said smiling.

Roxas scowled at him. "So what did you do to Kairi?"

Sora flushed and shifted uneasily, Kairi murmured something and her hand closed around his. Sora looked away from everyone, his face reddening further. Yuna giggled, and the fact that she thought this was all funny made Roxas feel a little self-conscious when she looked up at him with a warm smile.

"You shouldn't have left her alone you know. She's going to feel bad."

Roxas looked away, well what was he supposed to do? Kiss her? Thinking of kissing Namine made him blush again and he tried to hide this by covering his face with his hands.

Yuna was still smiling. "It's okay, she's a good person, she'll give you other chances."

"Stop now please." Roxas said hurriedly.

"Alright, in that case come on." She said, standing up.

"You're not going to just sit here. I want to dance too."

Roxas looked desperately over at Sora. "What about him?"

Yuna shrugged, her smile looking frighteningly like Rikku's for just a moment. "He's busy."

Without giving him a chance to further protest Yuna guided him out on the floor and began dancing with him, Roxas enjoyed himself despite being embarrassed, he had to admit, not as much as he had with Namine but at least with Yuna he knew she just wanted to have fun and not him.

They stopped dancing when the club closed sometime in the morning, everyone was exhausted and as half of their party was asleep it fell to the older members to carry them home. Tifa and Rinoa made sure that Yuffie was home and asleep before taking Rikku and Yuna home, when they parted Rinoa leaned close to Leon and kissed him, they stood like that for several minutes until Cloud, who had Tifa smiling at him accusatorily cleared his throat. Both Rinoa and Leon looked like they'd never see each other again when they let each other go, which further served to embarrass Cloud with Tifa. She forgave him though and merely kissed him on the cheek as she hugged him.

"Coward," she whispered fondly before turning to leave.

Rikku leaned over and kissed Roxas on the cheek, smiling at him sleepily. "You know you could always stay at our house, it's closer than Merlin's."

"Uh…I'm—I mean we're…"

Yuna led Rikku by the shoulders gently away towards the two older women. "Come on Rikku, I think you broke him again."

She giggled and blew him a kiss, "night!"

The walk to Namine's and Kairi's was quiet, Kairi was half asleep and Sora was partially carrying her as they walked together. Namine was silent, staring up at what stars were visible beyond the city lights as they walked. Roxas wondered how she managed not to walk into anything the entire way, he tried to get close to her at one point, but she didn't respond at all, even when he brushed against her intentionally. Too nervous to try talking to her when she was so engrossed he kept quiet, walking besides her until they reached the girl's house finally.

"Goodnight." Kairi said, waving as she went up the stairs.

"Night," Sora called after her. "We'll come see you soon, that's a promise."

She nodded, opening the door quietly and slipping inside, Namine hesitated and turned back to Roxas walking up to him and hugging him. Roxas' heart leapt as he returned the hug automatically.

She looked up at him, smiling nervously. "I had fun, let's do it again, okay? I want to dance with you again."

Roxas nodded dumbly and she smiled, giggling nervously before turning to follow Kairi, he watched her until she was inside and then watched the door without realizing he was doing it.

Cloud rapped on his head with his knuckles. "Come on, your jaw is going to trip us."


	17. Chapter 16

Author's Note: I am still visiting with my friend and will be here for the remainder of the week. However my friend's mother has been kind enough to lend me her computer so I'm able to write in my free time while my friend is resting. So for the duration of my stay up here my updates will be sporadic but I will be writing and I will post whenever I have a finished chapter. Enjoy.

"Where is he?"

Sora looked up as the door burst open, slamming into the wall with a deafening smash as Cid stormed into the room, his eyes ablaze with fury.

Cid spied Roxas, semi-conscious on the bed besides Sora, Yuffie, and Rinoa, he stormed towards them purposefully; Sora stood to try and block his path but Cid merely shoved him out of the way without so much as breaking his stride.

He lifted Roxas up, shaking him violently. "Why didn't you save her? You're a damned bearer and you couldn't protect my little girl, why!"

Roxas' eyes stared unseeingly upwards. "I'm sorry." He murmured to no one in particular."

Sora grabbed onto Cid's arm and received a backhand to his face, which sent him sprawling, blood spattering the floor as he fell.

"Leave him alone." He managed, as Rinoa helped him to his feet again.

"Shut up kid, this isn't any of your business."

Sora grabbed Cid again, "leave him alone, please!" He shouted once more, desperate.

He clenched his eyes shut as Cid raised his hand again; when the blow didn't come he opened them cautiously. Laguna was holding Cid's raised arm and looking daggers at the older man.

"That's enough Cid."

"Like hell it is! This little worthless brat let my daughter di—"

Laguna slammed Cid into the wall, Roxas fell like a sack of bricks, Rinoa caught him, and helped Sora get him back into the bed as Laguna pinned Cid.

"That is enough Cid, do you hear me?"

"Screw you Laguna, my daughter is dead because of him!"

Laguna grabbed Cid's chin and twisted it, forcing him to stare at Roxas lying semi-conscious on the sheets.

"That boy is killing himself because he failed, and I am not going to let you finish the job. Would Rikku want you hurting anyone because of her, would she Cid?"

Cid shook uncontrollably, and for a moment Sora thought he'd try attacking Laguna, but then he broke down, sobbing and gripping Laguna's shoulders as he shook, Laguna released him as he cried, holding him gently.

"My little girl, my daughter…oh god my Rikku she's gone. She's dead, how do I explain that? What am I going to tell her mother Laguna? How can I face her?"

His voice was desperate as he sobbed all this, clinging to Laguna as if he were a drowning man.

Sora leaned over, whispering to Yuffie. "Isn't Rikku's mother dead?"

Yuffie nodded nervously, her eyes not leaving her father or Cid for an instant, she was trembling; then Julia entered the room and took Cid from Laguna, shooting her husband a disapproving glare, Laguna's expression remained unchanged.

"Come with me Cid, let's go to the kitchen alright? We'll get you something to drink."

She guided Cid, still crying, from the room Laguna sighed and ran a hand through his hair and biting his lip as he thought; a silence settled over the room, and no one spoke in the heavy atmosphere.

Finally Yuffie broke the quiet. "Jeez Dad, you're scary."

Laguna snorted. "Go to bed Yufe."

"Bu—"

"Now."

She nodded, giving Sora a quick hug before hurrying from the room, Laguna turned to Rinoa.

"Is he alright?"

She nodded. "It's mostly exhaustion, his wounds were pretty minor…there have been worse at the clinic."

Laguna nodded slowly. "Stay with him, Sora," Sora came to attention at the command in his voice he wasn't even in the military and yet Laguna made him jump. "Once your brothers get back, take Roxas to Merlin's, stay there for now. It's probably the one place in the city they can't get to right now and I don't want a repeat of tonight."

Sora nodded, Laguna left sighing to himself. Rinoa placed a damp cloth on Roxas' forehead.

"He'll be okay, but I don't know if he'll be able to live with himself after this."

Sora said nothing, taking Roxas' hand and holding it tightly. "Come on Roxas, you can get through this."

There were tears in Roxas' vacant eyes as he murmured. "I'm sorry Rikku, I'm so sorry."

"No no no boy, use your head use your head! How do you ever expect to get anything done if you can't master the basics?" Archimedes screeched as yet another of Roxas' spells vanished into nothingness.

"Leave him alone Archie he's doing his best."

The owl puffed up indignantly at Sora's excuse, in Merlin's absence he'd taken over their magic lessons.

"Pin feathers! There is no reason he can't be just as good as you, if he'd stop feeling sorry for himself then—"

"Gravity." Sora intoned.

Archimedes fell to the ground with an agonized screech, flattening against the floorboards.

Roxas sighed and turned towards the door. "I'll be in my room."

Archimedes picked himself up and clicked his beak though he didn't say anything more as he flew up into the rafters.

Sora sat next to Red as the chocobo ate, rubbing the top of the bird's head affectionately.

"I don't know what to do Red, he just won't let himself forget it. I've tried everything I can think of, I'm so lost."

Red lifted his massive head out of the trough, nuzzling Sora with his bloodstained beak, Sora smiled, hugging him closely.

"Thanks Red, we'll think of something."

There was a low moan out over the dark waters of the lake that surrounded Merlin's home.

Sora sighed, standing up and dusting himself off. "Someone's hungry."

He retrieved a large bucket of the same mix Red was eating, the chocobo eyed the bucket curiously as if wondering if he was going to be given more food; but Sora moved past him towards the water. Kneeling down he took a handful of the meaty food and splashed it into the water. There was a low rumble, then a wake began coming towards the shore it soon turned into a wave and then a massive reptile burst from the water and sloshed up onto the shore.

Sora jumped back, covered in water, smiling at the animal. "Thanks Nex, I needed that."

The pliodon shook her head, Merlin insisted it was a her and Sora didn't know how to tell the difference, from side to side; clapping her tooth lined jaws together hungrily. Sora had seen a pliodon once when he was little and living in the Destiny Isles grabbing a lungful of air before it had rolled over and dove. He'd never expected to see one this close; especially not one he could hand feed. Leon and Cloud had been less than pleased when Merlin had introduced Sora to the twenty foot aquatic reptile, the wizard had insisted there was no real danger as she was quite friendly and wasn't even that big by pliodon standards. The ocean going giants could grow to be in excess of sixty feet and weigh over forty tons.

The introduction had come after Leon had told Merlin about a sickle moon shark that Sora had found in the shallows when he was nine. The shark had been injured and Sora had slowly gained its trust and nursed it back to health. He'd been heartbroken when the shark had simply vanished one day. Of course the entire population of the islands had been terrified when the same shark was seen swimming close to shore. No one was allowed out into the deeper water and proposals were sent to the city council to remove, even kill the shark. Sora had of course by this time heard about the shark and gone swimming with it. Leon had never forgotten the sight of a four foot nine boy swimming with an eight-foot shark that was known to be dangerous to humans. Sora had instantly become a celebrity at school surpassing even Riku's fame for daring for a while. Of course the shark had eventually left for good and Sora had spent long vigils waiting to see if it would ever comeback. Kairi had kept him company on most of these watches.

Needless to say that upon hearing the story Merlin had proposed that Sora be introduced to his sort-of-pet pliodon that lived in the lake. Of course that was all Sora had need to hear and now he fed Nex whenever he fed Red.

Sora reached forwards and stroked the foremost pair of nostrils, patting Nex gently. "Open up now."

The pliodon's mouth opened wide and Sora dumped the contents of the bucket onto her tongue. Nex gurgled hungrily as she swallowed the meal, eying Sora with her two yellow eyes the size of baseballs curiously before using her fore-flippers to push herself backwards into the murky water once more.

"Sora!"

Sora turned to see Leon and Cloud cross the self-forming bridge; Leon was scowling, looking out as the pliodon sank back beneath the water.

"I am going to kill Merlin."

Sora smiled. "She's sweet."

"Sora, you thought a shark was cute." Leon said reproachfully, hugging Sora tightly as Cloud ruffled his hair.

Sora's smile grew, "it was! Besides it was hurt, I couldn't just leave it to die."

Before the pair could continue, Cloud interceded. "Where's Roxas?"

Sora's face fell. "He's up in his room and won't talk to anyone."

Cloud nodded and walked towards the house, Sora tried to follow but Leon held onto him. "Leave them alone for a little bit, they need to talk."

"I want to help too."

Leon nodded. "We all do, but I think we should let them have sometime alone for a now."

Sora looked after Cloud as he opened the door and vanished inside the rickety tower, he hoped Cloud could help, but somehow he wasn't sure of that.

Roxas lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, in his mind's eye he relived the night one week ago; recalling Rikku's laughter, the taste of her lips, how she'd felt against him, her scream, and holding her as she died. It kept flooding back and he couldn't seem to do anything about it, the horror kept repeating like a broken record.

There was a knock on the door. "Leave me alone Sora." Roxas called, rolling over and facing the wall.

The door opened and he turned his head, Cloud stood in the doorway. "Go away."

Cloud didn't say anything, sitting next to him on the bed. "You can't keep this up."

"It's my fault."

Cloud placed a hand hesitantly on Roxas' shoulder. "Only if you keep blaming yourself. There was nothing you could have done."

"You don't know, you've never failed anyone."

"Yes, I have." Cloud said quietly.

Roxas frowned, rolling over to look at Cloud; the sudden change in his brother's voice bothered him.

"It was a training exercise, we got dumped out in the desert and were told to make our way back to our base camp. It was supposed to be easy, just a simple survival course."

"What happened?"

"We had three people per team, and we didn't know where the other teams were. The first night, we were attacked by Heartless, no one expected it; Tifa and I survived, but our training mate, Lauren died. She was too badly injured for our first aid kits to be of any use, and neither of us knew any advanced healing magic. She died before morning while I sat there helplessly and watched her go."

"I'm sorry." Roxas muttered, suddenly feeling very nervous.

Cloud shrugged. "There are something's you never get the chance to change, and you'll feel terrible for the rest of your life. But you have to live with it Roxas, you have to move on."

"I can't do this Cloud, I'm not a hero, I can't be a bearer."

Cloud put an arm around him, obviously uncomfortable with the gesture. "Then there will be more Lauren's and more Rikku's. We need all five bearers, and that means we need you Roxas, if a goof like Sora can pull this off, then there is no reason you can't as well."

"I'm scared."

Cloud nodded, enveloping his little brother in a hug. "I know, we all are. Even people like Laguna and Sephiroth are nervous with the Heartless striking so close."

Roxas closed his eyes and leaned against Cloud, just listening to his breathing. He didn't say anything, holding Cloud tightly.

"You can do this Roxas, I believe in you, so do Leon and Sora. We're family like you and Sora are always saying." This last bit was said with a bit of annoyance, as if the fact that they repeated it so often bothered him. "We'll get you through this, but you've got to help us out too."

Roxas barely heard him, though the words were clear in his mind, he was asleep. Cloud snorted, sitting there unmoving as Roxas drifted off. When he was sure that he wasn't going to wake, Cloud leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Love you kid, you can do this, trust me."


	18. Chapter 17

"I don't want to be here." Roxas muttered.

Sora nodded agreement, he felt no better at standing outside Cid's house with so many others. The King was there, Maleficent and Merlin in attendance, Sephiroth and Laguna were her too. Riku stood besides Sephiroth, Sora had tried to get his attention but he hadn't even paid any attention to him or Roxas. The door to Cid's front door opened and Leon, Tifa, Cloud and another man, Sora recognized Zack from the pictures, stepped out and to his shock they had a humanoid Heartless tethered between them. It kept lashing out at its captors and whenever it moved towards one of them the others jerked on their tethers preventing it from reaching its intended victim.

Cid stepped out after them, looking smug. "Thank you all for coming, your Majesty I'm sorry to ask you out of the castle."

Ansem waved away the apology, his eyes focused keenly on the thrashing and snarling Heartless. "I think you've earned the time already, proceed."

"In light of the recent….attack, on my daughter," Cid began, his voice faltering slightly as several pairs of eyes looked towards Roxas who wished he were anywhere but there. "I developed something that should provide some means of protection for the everyday person on the street."

Now he really had their attention, even Sephiroth and Maleficent seemed to lose their air of boredom. Cid produced a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. There was a beeping sound, Sora noticed a circle of light tracking across the ground, it stopped beneath the Heartless who seemed to have noticed the light as well and was following the circle with its bright yellow eyes and clicking its jaws together nervously. There was a beep as the circle expanded, encompassing the Heartless in its diameter, rods of light shot up from the light, impaling the Heartless which shrieked and howled in agony.

Sora winced, he hated the Heartless, but this just seemed cruel to him. Then an orb of light fired up from the circle on the ground and floated for a moment above the writhing Heartless, it fell and smashed the Heartless to the ground where it began to unravel in a twitching mass of shadow. Leon, Tifa, Cloud, and Zack stepped away from the remains as the light vanished and what remained of the Heartless dissipated.

"Impressive," Ansem said calmly. "What is it?"

"It uses highly focused light to destroy the Heartless, I installed it up there," Cid pointed to the lamp post in the courtyard. "I can install projectors on all the light fixtures around the town and it draws all the energy it needs from the power grid."

Ansem nodded, stroking his beard for as he considered what Cid had said, Sephiroth spoke next. "What level of Heartless can it destroy?"

Cid shrugged. "I haven't tested it on anything bigger than a chocobo sized Heartless. I don't know how it will handle them, but in theory it can adapt to anything."

"I want them installed throughout the city as soon as possible. Cid the Engineers are at your disposal." Ansem said, he paused and frowned. "Does it have a name?"

Cid nodded; there were tears in his eyes as he spoke. "Rikku's Grace."

Roxas practically shriveled on the spot, Sora reached down and gripped his hand tightly. Besides Cid, Leon and Cloud were looking towards the boys with supportive expressions.

"I can't believe he invited Roxas there for that." Tifa steamed as she gripped her ice cream cone, crushing the cone itself but she didn't seem to care.

"I don't think he meant to be malicious." Leon said quietly, "after all he invited Riku as well."

She snorted, looking away. "Rikku's Grace, he could have spared us that."

Roxas was quiet, staring at his ice cream. "I deserved it."

Cloud slammed a hand down on his shoulder. "We've been over this."

He nodded, not saying anything; Tifa frowned and stood, planting a finger in Cloud's chest. "Cloud, he's your little brother, be gentle!"

Cloud flushed and looked away from her as she sat down besides Roxas, putting her arms around him. "It'll be okay Roxas, after all he made this to make sure something like that night doesn't happen again."

Sora nodded emphatically, "yeah, cheer up Roxas! I know it hurts bu—"

"Just shut up all of you!" Roxas cried, eyes filling with tears as he threw his ice cream to the ground. "Just leave me alone!"

He turned and ran, Sora tried to follow but Cloud grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. "Leave him alone for a little."

Sora glowered up at Cloud, trying get free of his grip; Leon was pointedly staying out of the scuffle though he looked concerned. Tifa stood back up and planted a kiss on Cloud's lips, his eyes widened and he stumbled back, losing his grip on Sora's collar who took the chance to run after Roxas.

Tifa broke the kiss and smiled at Cloud's stunned expression, "serves you right, jerk."

"Roxas needs to be alone." Cloud spat.

"He's not you, stop acting like he is. Right now I think he needs Sora, so leave them alone and buy me another ice cream."

They both looked down at her spilled cone, Cloud's face flushed as Leon snorted. "You're supposed to be older than me."

Sora caught up to Roxas, half-tackling him and wrapping his arms around him. Roxas thrashed, trying to get free desperately.

"Stop it!" Sora said, leaning his head against Roxas' back. "Please stop."

Roxas stopped thrashing, shuddering uncontrollably. "Cloud told me that I shouldn't blame myself…but how can't I? Sora I was right there, I should've saved her."

Sora nodded, holding Roxas tightly unsure of what to say as his cousin cried.

"What are you two doing?"

They looked up; Riku was sitting on a roof above them. Sora frowned up at him. "Riku if you're going to be a jerk, just…please go."

Riku shrugged and hopped off the roof, landing besides them. "Not my fault he can't handle the guilt. He's right to blame himself by the way, he did fail."

Roxas jerked out of Sora's grasp and swung at Riku, he sidestepped and tripped Roxas, smiling smugly as Roxas landed on the cobblestones.

"Please, you couldn't hit me even if you tried."

Sora forgot about his discomfort around Riku and head butted him the back, sending him sprawling, he knelt to help Roxas up.

"Riku, go away."

Riku picked himself up, smiling. "When did you start fighting dirty?"

"When you started pissing me off," Sora muttered sullenly.

Riku nodded. "Fair enough….do you want to see them?"

Sora frowned, "who?"

"Namine and Kairi," Riku looked at Roxas, his smile in place again. "I heard about how you were able to cast when she was holding your hand. You could probably do with a visit."

Roxas flushed, wiping away his tears. "Just shut up Riku."

Riku shrugged and began to walk away. "I'm going over there; you guys can come if you want."

As he walked off, Sora and Roxas looked at one another, then both moved to follow him.

Kairi opened the door, giggling. "Riku I was going to be mad when you were late, but I don't think I can be."

Riku snorted. "Good to know that I'm loved."

She kissed him on the cheek, "thanks for bringing them."

Sora got more than a kiss on the cheek; she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against him. "I'm glad you were able to come."

He blushed as he put his hands around her waist and held her gently, grinning widely. Roxas felt uncomfortable watching Sora and Kairi so he moved past them and followed Riku inside and sat down on a couch in the living room. Riku reached over and grabbed a peach from a bowl on the side table, biting it as he watched Kairi and Sora talk by the open door.

"They might as well get married."

Roxas nodded quietly, Riku snorted as he took another bite. "So why don't you go look for her?"

Roxas' flushed and he looked down at his feet as Sora and Kairi joined them. Kairi sat down next to Roxas, Sora on her other side.

She put an arm around him. "Are you alright?"

"He's fine, just coming to grips with the fact that he's helpless." Riku said nonchalantly.

Kairi smiled at him. "You're a jerk."

"Guilty."

Sora's smile had vanished now as he looked over at Riku. "Can't you be nice to him for a minute?"

Riku looked between Sora and Roxas. "You know I think last time I saw you two your roles were reversed. At least this time you remembered your friends."

Kairi rolled her eyes. "Riku, I'm happy you're here but you aren't helping anyone, why don't you go make something for lunch?"

Riku blinked, "lunch?"

"I'm hungry."

He sighed and shook his head, standing up and heading over to the kitchen. "This is child labor you know."

She giggled. "So you noticed, you deserve it though."

Riku shrugged and began rummaging around for something to make. Sora stared in astonishment.

"How did you do that?"

Kairi's smile was sad. "He's not as big a jerk as he acts, you should know that Sora…" She looked increasingly pained as she continued. "We all lost our parents and home. Riku I think has taken it the worst, especially living with his aunt and uncle, they're not…well they're not like a normal family. I don't think he was able to heal after losing his mom and dad like we were."

"I heard that." Riku called over, without looking up. "I'm perfectly fine."

Kairi looked at Sora and smiled secretly, Sora got the feeling she didn't believe him. Sora remembered what he'd when he'd realized his mom and dad were gone, yes, he had been lucky to move in with Roxas and Cloud. He and Leon had found a loving family. If Sephiroth was as cold and stoic as he seemed then Riku probably had never found that. He wondered if there was anything he could do for him, but came up blank.

Kairi put a hand on Roxas' knee. "You know Rikku wouldn't want you doing this. We all used to go out together, Rikku, Namine, Yuna, Yuffie, we all hung out together. If she saw you now she'd hate herself for causing you to suffer."

Roxas continued staring down. "She isn't here though, and that's because of me."

"Roxas…" Kairi's voice was gentle; she put a hand on his cheek and turned him to look at her. "I'm sure she doesn't blame you, and I know you did everything you could."

Roxas looked at her eyes; he wished she hadn't made him look at her. This was awkward, he couldn't break the gaze though she was trying to tell him something and she wanted him to listen. The thing was that he wasn't certain that she was wrong; he didn't think Rikku blamed him, but that didn't make it any easier.

"Namine's upstairs in her room I think. I'm sure she'd like to see you." Kairi looked over at Riku, "will you be long?"

Riku scowled. "What, not fast enough princess?"

Kairi smiled slightly. "Sora go help him, and no, I just want Roxas to go see Namine."

"Oh good, more couple drama," Riku said as Sora came into the kitchen. He pointed towards a cupboard. "I need pepper."

"Riku," Kairi said sweetly, "shush."

He didn't say anything more, so Kairi turned back to Roxas. "Her room is to the right of the stairs, the last door."

Roxas nodded and stood up, heading towards the stairs and climbing them slowly, he felt like there was a lead weight in his stomach, but at the same time he took some comfort. Namine made him comfortable, made him feel safe, and for whatever reason when she'd helped him he'd been able to use magic. That had to mean something didn't it? He turned right at the top of the stairs and walked down the short hallway, he knocked once when no answer was forthcoming he knocked again.

"Namine?" He turned the door handle and stuck his head in; she was nowhere to be seen, he swallowed slightly and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Namine are you in here?"

He moved towards the bathroom, he stumbled for a moment, he looked down to see a book lying at his feet, some pages had been knocked out, he knelt to pick them up and replace them. The pages were crayon drawings; something about the characters looked familiar to him. He began flipping through them, they really did look familiar. He turned the next page and froze.

"Roxas?"

He looked up; Namine was standing in the door to the bathroom, a towel around wrapped around her. She was staring at him in terror, he thought he knew why as he turned the book around.

"What is this?"

Her face twisted in pain. "I—I'm sorry."

"What is it?" He asked again, his voice growing angry.

The page he was holding open showed caricatures of Roxas and Rikku in a beam of light, there was a pool of blood around them and Roxas was holding Rikku in his arms.


	19. Chapter 18

The fact that Namine had just come out of the shower and was wearing a towel was totally lost on Roxas as he held up the offending sketchbook.

"Why is this picture in here?" He growled, surprised at himself for how much he sounded like Cloud when his brother was angry.

Namine's face was wrought with agony as she looked at him. "You weren't supposed to see that, no one is."

"What exactly am I seeing? Why is this picture here?"

Her eyes were watering as she met his gaze. "I have these…dreams, and I—"

"You knew?" He exploded, throwing the book to the ground, it hit the floor and pages went everywhere.

She jumped, taking a step away from him. "I'm sorry Roxas, I tried to warn you."

"You didn't say anything!"

Now it was her turn to look angry. "I did! Remember? I told you not to go."

"Why didn't you tell us she was going to die?"

Roxas was shouting now, Namine winced and flinched further away from him, though he voice still held the anger that had begun to build.

"Would you have believed me?"

"Yes!" He shouted.

She laughed, bitterly and the sound stung. "You're lying, I can tell. Roxas you barely believe in your own power, why would you believe in someone else's if you can't even believe in yourself?"

"Rikku died because you didn't tell us!"

"I know! Do you know how many times this has happened?" She sobbed, "how many times I've seen something coming and been powerless to stop it? The worst part is that it doesn't always happen! Sometimes it happens, and then something changes and the outcome is different! I just have these visions and I'm compelled to draw them and...and…."

She froze as Roxas bore down on her; he slammed her into the wall. "You could have saved her life! She could still be alive!"

Namine tried to push him off of her but to no avail as he pinned her against the wall, his eyes wild as he began to cry as well.

"Roxas you're hurting me." She whimpered.

He shook her violently. "Why didn't you tell someone…she could...I could..."

Slowly he released her, sinking to the floor, she went with him, they were both crying, his hands still on her shoulders as she reached up and ran her hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry Roxas, I just…I don't know how I can tell anyone, even Kairi doesn't know about this, I think she suspects but…only my grandmother knows the truth."

Roxas clung to her like he was drowning and she was his only hope. "I just, I just…."

She nodded, pulling him against her as they leaned against the wall together. He closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

He looked up at her tear streaked face, a hand traced a line of liquid down her cheek it was his hand. She closed her eyes and their lips touched, they wrapped their arms around each other and sat there holding each other, crying as they kissed desperately. It all seemed unreal to Roxas, like it wasn't him doing this, like he was watching someone else kiss Namine. His mind wasn't in his body, it was somewhere else entirely and he felt nothing but peace as this other entity took control of his body and kissed the girl in the towel in between his body and the wall.

"Okay this isn't what I was expecting."

They both jumped, breaking the kiss violently and turning to see Riku, Kairi, and Sora all staring at them, Kairi and Sora were both bright red with eyes wide; Riku simply stared at them as if they were a minor curiosity in an otherwise normal world.

"W—we heard shouting, and thought—" Kairi didn't finish, ducking out the room in embarrassment.

Sora stayed glued to the spot staring dumbstruck at Roxas and Namine, Riku took his arm and guided him out of the room casting a look back at the pair on the floor.

"A sign on the door would be nice next time."

Roxas opened and closed his mouth; he imagined a fish flopping around on the floor without water and suspected that's what he looked like as Riku closed the door. He looked back at Namine, she didn't look at all scandalized; she was simply blushing and trying to smile at him.

"I uh," he began awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

"Did you mean it?"

"I—I don't know."

She leaned against him; he could feel her body quivering in his arms as their lips touched again. His face was red hot as they kissed for the second time, she put her arms around him, the sensation he felt kissing her was indescribable, and it was entirely different from when he'd kissed Rikku. His body surged with warmth and it felt like she was an extension of his body, not an invader.

They broke the kiss after what seemed like an eternity. She was smiling past her tears as she leaned her head against his chest. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you…I think we both mean it."

He nodded stupidly, holding her close, still completely oblivious to the fact that there was a girl in his arms wearing nothing but a towel. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

She shook her head. "You frightened me…I—I have a drawing of this in my book…but I could never see who was kissing me."

He frowned. "Is it okay?"

"Have you forgiven yourself?" She asked, looking up at him, a hand on his chest.

"I—yeah, I guess."

She nodded, leaning back against him, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, it was the most comforting feeling Roxas had ever experienced.

"Then it's okay, we'll share the burden."

Roxas looked back at the closed door. "You know they're going to—"

"Let them, I don't want to move."

He nodded, putting his arms around her and running a hand through her hair as they leaned into one another.

Outside the door Sora was listening intently, Riku was leaning against the wall besides him.

"You know you shouldn't be doing that Sora."

"Then why are you here?"

He shrugged, unable to produce an answer, Kairi came back up the stairs, still scarlet faced. "What are you two doing?" She said, scowling as she spied them.

"She returns." Riku said with a smirk.

"Be quiet, come on both of you." She took Sora by the arm and then grabbed Riku as well, leading both of them away from the closed door.

"You know Kairi considering that you and Sora are—"

"Shut up Riku!" Both said in unison, Riku smiled triumphantly causing both to blush as Kairi continued to half lead, half drag them back towards the stairs.

"You know why all this is happening right? It's the paupu fruit."

Kairi and Sora looked at each other as Riku spoke, then both shoved him down the stairs. Riku took the fall gracefully, rolling as he went down and coming up on his feet, smirking up at them confidently.

Roxas knelt and helped Namine pick up the drawings that had scattered around the room, she'd dressed with him in the room, and though it had embarrassed him he hadn't had a panic attack like he would have expected. He was strangely comfortable with her, well saying strangely wasn't fair. Something just felt very right between the two of them.

He paused as he reached down and picked up a particular drawing, studying it carefully.

"Namine…."

She looked over as he held up the picture, their eyes met.

"Does he know?"

A sad smile crossed her face, "what would I tell him? Besides, it's possible that this will never happen."

She took the picture from him and put it back in the book.

"Don't tell him anything Roxas, we won't know if it's true until it happens and you'll just be hurting him if you do anything about it now."

Roxas nodded, picking up these drawings was showing him just how heavy Namine's burden was, heavier than his guilt. He reached over and wrapped his arms around her; she closed her eyes and leaned against him. She whispered something to him, and he frowned as he tried to hear her.

"What did you say?"

"It's nothing you don't already know. Let's just…stay here for a while longer."

They kissed again, and stayed there standing together until Riku banged on the door calling them for lunch.

The three boys spent the rest of the day at the girls' house and everyone stayed off the subject of what had happened, and what was assumed to have happened, in Namine's room though the sudden closeness of the pair provided Riku with plenty of ammunition for snide remarks. To his credit he did not say a word involving the girl Rikku's recent death, though no one doubted the thought had occurred to him. When the girls' grandmother finally arrived Roxas and Sora tried to excuse themselves however she wouldn't hear of it and insisted that the three of them stay. She apologized for only having room for them in the living room.

"That's okay; I don't think Namine would mind sharing a room with Roxas, maybe even get Sora to bunk with Kairi." Riku said with a chuckle.

The elderly woman blinked once, turning to look at Namine, her eyes narrowing as if she were having trouble seeing.

"Really, I would like to speak to you, both of you," she added, eyeing Roxas. "Before we all go to bed, Kairi, be a dear and help me upstairs."

"Yes grandma." Kairi said, Riku moved to assist her up the flight as well.

Roxas looked at Namine worriedly; she smiled putting a hand on his arm. "It's okay, she likes you."

"I'm not that sure about that."

Namine giggled, covering her smile with a hand. "I am she didn't throw you out."

"So why doesn't she want to talk to Kairi and me?" Sora asked, befuddled.

Roxas smiled, a real smile and that was reason in itself to be smiling. "She knows you're not serious and won't do anything."

"Hey I'm serious I—uh…." Sora turned bright red and looked away.

Roxas decided to press the point. "How serious are you?"

"S—shut up! I'm not going to go as far as you did!"

Now Roxas flushed. "I—uh—we didn't do anything! I walked into that one didn't I?"

"No kidding, and you were lying on top of her and she was barely wearing a towel!"

Namine flushed. "Okay when you put it that way it does sound bad, but we didn't I promise."

Sora opened his mouth, but was interrupted from atop the stairs by Kairi. "Namine, Grandma wants to see you and Roxas now."

Sora's already flushed face turned a deeper shade of red, perhaps so much that it was more a purple than red now. "You didn't hear that did you?"

Kairi smiled. "It's okay Sora, I liked what I heard."

The room wasn't particularly well lit, candles flickered dimly all around the room instead of the usual electric lighting there was a small fireplace with five chairs set around it, and most of the room's light came from here. As Roxas peered around in the gloom, Namine took his hand and lead him towards the fireplace and chairs. Taking a seat he realized that Namine's grandmother was sitting across from him, he felt very self-conscious as the old woman tended the fire patiently with a poker. When she finally peered up, she smiled warmly and the smile eased his misgivings at least.

"So he's the one from your drawing?"

Namine nodded, the old woman chuckled. "I'm glad. Now young man, what do you know about Namine?"

"I uh…" Roxas blushed, what did he know? "I know about her visions, I know she grew up on the Destiny Isles with Sora and Riku and left after losing her parents in the same storm they did…she's the same age as I am?" He said lamely, feeling like a complete idiot.

Namine's grandmother nodded, her smile turning upwards in amusement. "I have been keeping a terrible secret from the girls, though now that I know you and your bro—I'm sorry, cousin, age plays its tricks, are with them I no longer need to strain myself."

Now Namine looked just as confused as Roxas, which was a relief to him. She continued quietly as she tended the fire.

"The King searches for the five Hearts, the five Keybearers though he does not know where to look and it is more of a matter of waiting for them to be revealed than anything else." She took a deep breath, looking very tired. "Kairi and Namine are the last bearers; I've blocked Namine's visions of such things, and kept their dreams from taking root to protect them from the Heartless. Riku was the first, you and your cousin were the second and third, tonight Kairi and Namine will be the fourth and fifth." Her smile vanished as she looked into Roxas' eyes. "You must go to the castle tomorrow when the girls have awakened as bearers and tell the King to prepare for war. Xehanort will come for all five of you, and he will not come alone. He will come with the full might of the Heartless and possibly more if he's been successful in manipulating them. Tell the King this and prepare yourselves for what will happen; I feel my son's eyes boring into my soul as I say this, but I cannot shield my granddaughters from their fates any longer."

She reached a thin, weathered hand out and touched Roxas' hand, it was warm and strong despite any appearance of weakness, she gazed into his eyes and he felt like he was staring into the very flow of time as she did so.

"Stay strong, stay together, remember that is what makes you powerful is your heart, and the hearts of your friends and companions. I cannot tell you what will happen when this is finished, but I know it in my own heart that so long as the five of you stand together there is nothing that can stop you."

When they finally left her room, Namine and Roxas were trembling, Sora and Riku had made makeshift beds in the living room on whatever furniture they could fit on, Namine gripped Roxas' hand tightly when he tried to descend the stairs. She led him to her room, he didn't protest, neither of them wanted to be alone tonight.


	20. Chapter 19

"Did you know about this?"

Maleficent did not look pleased as Ansem eyed her. "If I had known that Mim was in Hollow Bastion I would have told you Sire."

Ansem sighed. "That old woman was shielding the last two bearers from us the whole time waiting for the others to gather." His smile returned after a moment and he started laughing. "I find it hard to feel angry at her though, she played this masterfully."

Sora looked over at Kairi, she was still coming to grips with the fact that she and Namine were bearers, and that her grandmother was an infamous sorceress who had hidden herself in the least likely place to hide from a kingdom trying to find her, in that kingdom's very heart. When the five of them had woken Kairi had been crying because of a nightmare, one that the boys already knew, and had been clutching a keyblade to add to the confusion. Namine had come into her room a moment later with Roxas, with a keyblade of her own and she had comforted her sister until Kairi had stopped crying. Sora still didn't understand how Namine and Roxas had taken everything so easily, though he suspected the girls' grandmother had something to do with it.

When they'd tried to wake her, all they'd found was a note pinned to her pillow:

"To my Dearest girls,

I love you both so much, to think of the monstrous things I once did as Madame Mim when being your Grandmother was the happiest time of my life. So much wasted time. There are something's that can never be forgiven however, and once the King and his lackeys find out who I am they will no doubt search for me, as much as it pains me to leave you both, I must for my own sake and yours. Know that I love you dearly, and I will watch over you until we can meet again.

Love ever more, Grandmother."

"Sire I still say we should pursue her, she is a wanted criminal." Maleficent persisted.

Merlin cleared his throat. "A reformed criminal I would say from the sounds of things, after all she has spent these past years living quietly under our very noses doing nothing more threatening than raising and protecting a family."

Ansem cut in before the inevitable argument could fully develop. "It doesn't matter, Madame Mim or not we now have all five bearers which means we need to find Xehanort now and a way to access the World Heart which unfortunately only he knows how to do." He looked over at Cid, who had remained quiet throughout the discussions. "I don't want any more innocents killed over that man's pursuit of power."

"But your Majesty that woman—"

Ansem raised a hand, silencing Maleficent. "Committed crimes yes, but those crimes were two lifetimes ago Maleficent, I know you and Merlin were there but I was not I am nothing more than a man. I believe that one lifetime is enough to be hunted like an animal let alone two." He turned to look at Namine and Kairi. "If you see your Grandmother again, tell her she is welcome to return to her home and will suffer no reprisals from me or my subjects."

"If I may," Sephiroth spoke up, "from the warning Mim gave us it would appear that the traitor will come for these five, and we need not look for him at all. Why not muster our forces and wait for him with the bearers as bait?"

"Sephiroth, thank you for your insight but I refuse to use children as bait for a madman. I have caused this world enough harm already by committing to brash and cruel actions wouldn't you agree?"

Sephiroth looked away silently, further discussion was paused when the doors groaned open and a soldier ran the length of the hall without so much as a nod to those she passed until she reached the King and handed him a letter case. He unclipped it and began reading; Sora swore he saw bloodstains on the paper.

Ansem the Wise looked up, his expression grim. "Traverse Town has fallen."

"Impossible." Cid spat, finally speaking, "I built the defenses for that city myself when I still had a young back. Nothing could get through those walls."

Ansem sighed, sounding very tired. "They didn't come from the outside," he handed the letter to Cid. "They came from beneath."

He looked to the messenger, "the garrison?"

The young woman looked up and removed her helmet; Sora caught his breath as the three horrendous gashes crossing her face and covered in dried blood were revealed; he was reminded of the scar Leon bore because of him and shuddered.

"I was sent before they reached the barracks or town hall, but the commander did not hold out any hope unless reinforced, given the time that has passed Sire…" She trailed off and no one needed her to elaborate.

Ansem nodded grimly, "thank you for yo—Merlin!"

Merlin rushed forwards and caught the woman as she fell, cradling her in his robes as he held his hand above her chest. There was a soft glow from the tips of his fingers and the wounds on her face closed though the bloodstains remained.

"She will be fine Sire." He said. "She simply needs rest."

The King snorted mirthlessly. "She'll get more than rest; Laguna?"

Laguna stepped forwards, Ansem indicated the messenger. "I want her entered in your Knights; any rider that can come this far with those wounds deserves at least that much."

Laguna didn't even bother to protest he simply bowed and followed Merlin out of the great hall, with the injured messenger floating between them.

Ansem leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers and taking a long slow breath.

"Traverse Town is at least a week's ride from Hollow Bastion less if a mount is pushed, the train lines will not serve Xehanort so there is no need to worry of them though I want them cut now to be sure, and we must assume that the Heartless will have a means to get from one place to the other much faster than a chocobo." He bit his lip, leaning to one side. "Cid, is your toy finished yet?"

Cid grinned viciously, as if he was happy the Heartless were coming. "She'll fire your Majesty, and the Heartless will never know what him 'em."

Maleficent snorted dismissively. "That is if your contraption is even capable of hitting them."

"Enough," Ansem said quietly, yet his voice echoed nonetheless. "I have no time for your bickering. Sephiroth," he bowed to the King. "I want your Elites deployed as scouts on all approaches to the city, a day's ride from the furthest portions of the city; I want all the warning we can have if they come at us from the land. I'll order Soldier to deploy within the city itself, they'll be ready if Xehanort tries what he did at Traverse here."

"Where will we be?" Sora asked eagerly.

Ansem blinked, as if he'd forgotten that the five children were still there. "You will not participate in the battle. I can't risk any of you until we know how to strike directly at Xehanort."

Sora's heart fell, he wanted to help, and Leon and Cloud would be in the middle of everything, as would so many others, why did they have to sit this out?

"It isn't fair!" Sora griped.

"Sora, you have passable combat skills at best and you can just barely cast level three tactical magic, what is the King going to do, throw you at an army of Heartless?"

Sora stamped his foot, glaring at Riku. "You bet! We could take them; we're the keybearers we're supposed to defeat Heartless."

Riku snorted and waved his hand, Roxas spoke up before he could say anything. "We're just kids, we can fail."

Anything Riku might have said was stopped by that statement, Roxas and Riku caught each other's eyes and in that moment all past ills were forgiven on both sides, mostly on Riku's.

Namine put her hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Roxas is right, we don't know anything about war and we can't be of any use to the King if we get in his way."

"Bu—"

"Sora, listen to them." Kairi said, putting her arms around his waist and leaning against his back, Sora fell silent and nodded. She was still taking all of this very hard, one day she'd been a normal girl, and the next she was part of the world's hope for normalcy. It was a lot to take in.

The door opened and Leon and Cloud entered the room, followed by Tifa and Zack.

Zack stuck out his hand towards Roxas. "We haven't really met, I'm Zack."

"Uh, hi," Roxas said.

He nodded and turned to Sora. "I'd shake your hand but I respect a girlfriend's right to cling to her man."

Sora blushed though he made no attempt to shake Kairi.

"What are you four doing here?" Riku asked.

"Well it was just us," Leon supplied, eyeing Tifa and Zack. "Those two just decided to follow."

Tifa smiled. "I'm practically your sister Leon, why wouldn't I come?"

Cloud flushed and looked at the neighboring wall, Zack shrugged. "I'm their squad leader, and I wouldn't be much of a leader without a squad to lead." He grinned, "even if they're the ones leading me."

Leon went up to Sora, smiling at Kairi apologetically. "Give me a moment?"

She released him, and Leon put his hands on Sora's shoulders. "We're going to be deployed as one of the scout squads so we're not going to see you anytime soon alright?"

"You're not going to be here?" Sora said with a look of alarm.

"You'll be fine, I just…well I wanted to tell you that I'm very proud of you, and no matter what happens I love you."

Sora wrapped his arms around Leon who smiled and did the same, holding him close and ruffling Sora's hair playfully.

"It'll be okay, I'll come back I promise."

"You'd better." Sora sniffled.

Roxas looked over at Cloud, not sure what to expect; Cloud looked like he'd swallowed something slimy as he came over and hugged Roxas, though the hug was just as warm and close as the one Leon and Sora shared.

"I'll be back."

Roxas couldn't help it, he smiled. "You're terrible at this."

Cloud scowled. "What do you want me to say?"

Shaking his head, Roxas let Cloud go. "Same thing you always do."

Cloud sighed and shrugged as if in apology, Tifa took that moment to wrap her arms around Cloud's neck. "Don't worry, he loves you."

"I know," Roxas said with a smile. "Take care of him."

She winked. "I will."

Sora and Roxas watched from the balcony of the room they'd been given at the castle as the city prepared itself for a war. Lights still burned brightly in the streets but the hustle and bustle of the city had died down as the people readied themselves for what was to come.

"You know what scares me the most?" Roxas murmured.

"What?"

"No one has ever fought an army of Heartless before; this isn't like going to war with one of the neighboring kingdoms and fighting other people. We know about all the wars and battles between the kingdoms from our history texts but this is completely different."

Sora thought for a moment, he'd never really paid much attention in school, relying on Roxas and others to help him through it all.

"Yeah but they can be killed just like people, we've seen them die. Remember in Twilight Town at the Struggle fight? The militia had no trouble killing them."

Roxas nodded, looking inside the room where Namine and Kairi were sleeping, Riku had gone off somewhere with his family, considering that every member of his family was in the Elites that was no surprise, Big Red was nowhere to be seen which made him sad. They'd sent the chocobo with their brothers, hoping the big goofy bird would give Leon and Cloud that much more of a chance to come back unharmed. It had been quite a sight to see Red being armored for war; a helm was fitted over his head, it stretched from the back of his head to his beak, covering them with metal shears to make the already deadly beak more so. Neck and throat armor was fitted to protect him and metal talons were slipped over his claws; by the time the blacksmith had finished Red had looked like some kind of metal statue. The imposing visage hadn't stopped Sora from cuddling the chocobo who had warbled mournfully when he'd been led away by Leon and Cloud.

"Do you think anything will ever be normal again?" Sora asked longingly.

Roxas looked over at him, frowning. "I thought you liked all this magic and stuff."

"I do…but sometimes I miss when things were simpler."

"You mean your parents right?"

"Well…not that exactly," he looked a little ashamed as he smiled. "I mean that was normal in a broad sense right? I would love to have my mom and my friend's parents back, but I mean, you know back in Twilight when we were just Roxas and Sora, when there weren't any Heartless or keyblades."

Roxas nodded, "yeah I know what you mean. I don't know Sora," he thought of holding Rikku as she died. "I don't think things will ever be the same again."


	21. Extra: Fall of Traverse

"Petria!"

Petria looked up and smiled as Davies jogged up besides her. "If you're sore about being out-drunk by a woman I'm sorry but I'm not letting go of that coin."

He waved the comment away with his hand. "What, I can't come congratulate the victor?"

"You're not that generous."

"Hah! So I'm not." He grinned at her as they continued walking through the courtyard. "Seen anything strange?"

"You mean like ghosts in the sewers?" She laughed. "I think our ghosts are no more than rats grown over large from too much drinking."

Davies shrugged. "Being a drunkard myself I can say that it takes a good deal of liquor for a rat to turn into a dog let alone a ghost."

She shook her head. "And you're supposed to be a soldier."

"The proudest there is." He declared, puffing up his chest confidently. "I can out-drink any man in Traverse."

"Just not any woman," she smiled.

"Oh you wound me!"

Petria sighed and opened her mouth but the words never formed as the cobblestones beneath their feet rumbled violently, throwing them both to the ground. Petria covered her head as she sprawled on the ground, Davies put one big arm around her and pulled her partially beneath him, she could say what she wanted but he was a man she wanted on her side in a fight. The shaking subsided and she lifted her head up as Davies picked himself up, helping her to her feet.

"What was that?"

He shook his head, "our sewer ghosts?"

"You remember that notice in the barracks about strange creatures?"

"Who doesn't? The sub-commander pounds that crap into our heads every muster."

Petria looked at him seriously, his face darkened. "You don't actually think little shades are going to start crawling out of the woodwork and start slaughtering people do you?"

"Well then what wa—"

There was a scream and both turned to see a woman running towards them.

"My husband!" She sobbed, pointing behind her.

Davies caught her in his arms. "It's alright Miss, what happened?"

"A hole opened in the street and something grabbed him and dragged him into the hole, it was, he was, oh god help me!"

"Davies stay with her," Petria ran back the way the hysterical woman had come, turning the corner and stopping in her tracks. It wasn't a hole, it was a chasm, a furrow had been cleaved in the ground and it was at least ten feet long and four feet at its widest. She stepped around it and tried to peer inside of it, but there was nothing in the blackness. She frowned as she heard a pop overhead and looked up to see the street lamps going out around her. The hole must have severed the electrical line, she swore as she stumbled in the dark, making her way back towards the lighted courtyard. She hadn't even been able to tell if anyone had fallen into the hole.

Davies waved as she turned the corner; he was sitting by the fountain with the distressed woman.

"Find anything?"

"No, the lights went out."

"Well that's helpful, what should we do about her?"

"We need to get her home safely of course, and then we can report her husband missing."

Davies stood and began helping the woman to her feet, Petria's eyes widened as a man sized form rose up out of the water and raised what looked like a blade fused onto its arm to strike.

"Davies!"

He turned just in time to see the blade swing for him and he dropped to the ground, the woman was not so lucky. The sharpened metal cut her from her neck to her hip as it fell. Petria stood dumbstruck as her corpse fell to the ground trailing bright red blood all the way.

"Back, get back," Davies yelled scrambling backwards on the cobblestones as the creature advanced on him, he drew a hand caster and pulled the trigger repeatedly, the rounds hit and the magic went to work, freezing the water and the creature which let out a screeching hiss as it froze.

He picked himself up, blood covering his uniform. "What the hell wa—"

The ground began to shake again, much stronger this time; masonry began to fall from the surrounding buildings as lights flickered out of existence. People screamed some running from their houses, Petria nearly fell over but Davies grabbed her, his legs spread wide for balance as the street heaved. The fountain crackled the ice that had encased the creature shattering as it fell into the ground in a rumbling mass. The hole that opened up beneath it spewed forth more of the armored monsters, Davies shouted, pushing Petria back.

"Run!"

They both did just that, bolting in the darkness as more holes opened up around them and the creatures poured forth. Petria drew her sword and hacked at any that blocked her path, behind her she heard Davies' caster firing rapidly as he followed her, the flashes from the magic lighting their path. All around them people were screaming now, trying to escape the horde of armored shadows that were rushing through the streets. Petria felt something hard hit her back and she stumbled, turning in time to see Davies struggling with a four-legged creature as it tried to take his head off, more monsters leapt on him and he was pulled into a side alley, screaming.

Petria hated herself for running away, but she did, she ran as fast as she could from the horrors around her. Something big dropped in front of her and she skidded to a halt as an armored and clawed hand swung at her, she brought up her sword and parried the attack, only to have the other hand slash across her face. She felt her skin open and warm blood flow over her face, blurring her vision. She screamed, driving forwards and drawing her small dagger, shoving the tiny blade between the armor's joints. The creature howled, its golden eyes widening as it reeled away from her. A fine black mist poured from the wound as it chattered and dragged itself along the wall, disintegrating as it went.

She didn't wait to watch it die, resuming her mad dash through the streets. She was standing in front of town hall before she realized that was where she was going, already the militia, or what was left of it had set up around and inside of the building and the adjoining barracks. People were flowing past her as they pushed their way towards the safety of the armed militia. The sub-commander turned when she spied Petria, waving her over.

"Report."

"Davies is…" she swallowed her mouth dry, the sub-commander handed her a canteen and she took a drink, wincing, it wasn't water. "Davies is dead."

The sub-commander swore. "That makes thirteen."

"Thirteen?" Petria asked, astonished, the militia only had one hundred members; they all knew each other by name.

"And those are the ones we know are dead." The sub-commander continued. "We still have twenty-six unaccounted for, well twenty-five now that you're here."

"Petria is that you?"

Both women turned to see the commander standing on the steps of town hall staring gravely down at them.

They saluted as he approached. "Not now! What the hell happened to your face?" She opened her mouth but he continued as if she hadn't. "Can you still ride?" She considered the gashes on her face, and then nodded solemnly. "Good, come with me, you're the best damned rider I've got and we need that right now."

She followed, leaving the sub-commander to continue watching the perimeter and ushering the terrified townsfolk into the hall. The commander led Petria into his office and sat down, taking out pen and paper and scribbling a note, finishing he placed it in a letter canister and handed the sealed case to her.

She took it, blinking in confusion, "sir?"

"Don't be daft girl, get your bird saddled and get out of here. Someone needs to know what the hell happened here."

She stiffened. "I'm not leaving."

He had looked away from her to consult a map of the city, now his eyes snapped back to her. "Don't test me Petria."

"They killed Davies sir, I was right there."

"And they're going to kill all of us if you don't get on that damned bird and ride."

She swallowed, her spine straightening. "Sir I am not leaving."

He roared to his feet. "Damn it to hell girl the phones and telegrams are cut! We have no way of warning anyone that Traverse is gone unless you get that message to Hollow Bastion! Do you want the doom of the kingdom on your hands because you're too damned stubborn?"

"There must be someone else."

"You've got the fastest bird and you're the lightest rider, besides you're already wounded, what good are you in a fight?"

Her face burned intensely, though whether from the half-insult or from the cuts on her face she wasn't sure. She wiped blood from her vision as she leaned forwards.

"I have just as much right to stay here and fight as you do."

He considered her for a moment, and then walked around his desk, grabbing her by the scruff of her uniform and dragging her in his wake. He was a bear of a man, she struggled but there wasn't much she could do as he dragged her through town hall, and into the barracks. Mali and Dace were sitting on their bunks when they entered.

"Get on your feet and saddle her bird!" The commander bellowed.

The pair jumped and scurried out the side door to the stable, the commander followed them, and as they put on saddle and bridle for her blue mount, which chirped nervously at all the activity, he released her and handed her a small potion.

"Drink that it'll give you energy enough to reach the King and stop the bleeding."

She did as she was told, worried that if she didn't he might shove it down her throat. Dace and Maili finished their task; the commander released them with a glance, turning to Petria expectantly.

"I can't do this sir."

He snorted. "Of course you can, and you will or so help me I'll tie you to your saddle."

She nodded and walked past him, Diva, her chocobo turned towards her, crooning uneasily. Petria soothed the bird with a gentle pet, lifting herself into her saddle before looking down at the commander.

"Sir if I may?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Screw you."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, then he threw his head back and started laughing. "Get going Petria, the sooner you leave, the more time they'll have to prepare."

She turned Diva towards the open stable door and tapped her heels to the chocobo's flank, the bird jumped forwards and Petria leaned against her neck as they dashed through the city. There were no flames, strangely despite the fact that many of the lights were out there was a strange glow emanating from the town now, a sickly green. Petria paid it, and the thrashing forms that passed her by, clenching her eyes shut as Diva leapt over whatever was in their path. When they cleared the walls and were well outside the town she stopped to look back at her home.

She could hear screams, and from the center of town she saw flashes from caster fire and heard the clash of metal, she even swore she heard the commander's imperious voice bellowing orders. She looked down at the watch she wore beneath her gauntlet; the town had fallen in under thirty minutes. Tears stung her eyes and burned the cuts on her face; she wiped them away and turned Diva southwest and started the chocobo off again. She had no choice in the matter now, she had to make sure the King knew what had happened.


	22. Chapter 20

The first two days passed without incident and though the King kept the city and its people preparing for war many wondered whether or not there was any real danger. The first signs of danger became readily apparent though, Rikku's Grace started to skyrocket with activity, at the end of the third day there were over one hundred hits from the system within one hour. After that no one needed convincing that the danger was real. The worst part was that the Heartless were different, they weren't the usual black forms and shades that Sora and Roxas remembered. These wore armor and carried weapons, and while they were slower than the regular Heartless, they seemed smarter and more coordinated.

The appearance of the new Heartless worried the King and anyone else who knew anything about Xehanort's experiments. It was a sign that Xehanort had learned how to manipulate the Heartless further. It was the afternoon of the fourth day that the first sightings of the Heartless army were called in. The scouts were recalled though some squads had to take a longer route to avoid the Heartless, as was the case with Leon and Cloud's squad. Battle plans were drawn up. The enemy had to pass through a gorge to get to Hollow Bastion and it was in that pass that the King would fight them, when their numbers would count for less than it would in a siege or open battle. The bearers would be with the King, which meant they'd get to see the battle, but it was made very clear to them that they were not to fight unless attacked.

Sora yawned lazily, wiping sleep from his eyes. "I'm tired."

Riku smiled at him, he was dressed differently, no longer in street clothes, he now wore leather armor, similar to what the Elites wore, and presumably it was from his Aunt or Uncle.

"You wanted to fight, this is part of fighting."

"Being up before dawn sitting on a pile of rocks and freezing?"

Riku nodded, smirking. "Yep, this is easier than the training so quite whining."

Sora scowled and looked over the edge to the gorge below, Laguna and his Knights were arrayed in three diamond shaped wedges pointed in towards the gorge, they'd already mounted and he could just make out Laguna riding back in forth in front of the mounted soldiers. Sephiroth and the Elites were somewhere nearby, he wasn't sure where, but they weren't fully assembled, still waiting for late comers who had to avoid the Heartless to join the battle. The last group that might join the battle was far behind them, the bulk of the army, called Soldier, Sora could think of more creative names, waited inside Hollow Bastion.

He didn't really see why, but the King wanted to keep them there. There was a murmur in the camp and Sora turned to see Ansem ride up to edge of the cliff face and stare out over the Knights and the gorge beyond them. His chocobo was pure gold, and it pawed the ground restlessly, chomping on its bit as it looked about. Maleficent, Cid, and Merlin joined the King a moment later. Cid rode his own gray chocobo, but Maleficent and Merlin both walked which Sora thought was a little odd.

Maleficent reached out a hand, and from out of the predawn gloom her raven fluttered onto her fingertips. She brought it close, listening as it croaked to her before nodding and letting it fly again.

"They've come."

Sora looked over at Roxas, Kairi, and Namine, he had the feeling that he was the only one excited about this. They all looked grim, he supposed that he should be afraid as well but, well this was their destiny right? They were supposed to do this, Roxas kept looking towards Riku nervously, Sora wondered if he was trying to draw strength from the older boy who seemed so calm in the face of all this.

There was a low rumble then, and everyone's eyes turned towards the gorge as the first Heartless marched into view, and that was the strange part. They weren't shuffling or skittering in every direction, they were _marching. _Cohesive ranks could be easily seen in their movements as they came towards the assembled forces of Hollow Bastion. The sun began to rise behind the King's camp, and Sora saw the glint of light off metal armor and weapons. These were just like the ones that had been appearing in Hollow Bastion, they were armed and intelligent, and there were thousands of them.

He looked at the Knights, Laguna was no longer out in front and visible, he had moved into the ranks, the force of Knights seemed dwarfed by the massive army of Heartless bearing down on it. Sora felt something cold and hard settling in his stomach as he viewed the two disparate forces, could they really win this?

"Cid is your toy ready?" The King asked.

In answer Cid raised a small device and squeezed, a light shot up into the sky, followed seconds later the earth shook violently, chocobo's screeched in terror, people dropped to the ground, all accept for the royal entourage who remained standing calmly, soothing their shaken mounts.

Sora raised his head, seeing Riku picking himself up made him feel less silly.

"What was that?" Kairi whispered.

"Oh wow, look." Roxas was pointing towards the Heartless.

There was a rift torn in their ranks now, as if someone had rolled a ball down the length of the ranks. It was closing up now as Heartless moved to fill it, but the sight of the massive tear in the formation was still stunning. What had Cid done?

"Again," Ansem said calmly.

This time everyone was braced for the earth shattering force, and saw what did the damage. A lozenge shaped object was hurled towards the Heartless and when it impacted there was a massive explosion that killed dozens if not hundreds of them.

Sora stared dumbstruck at the damage. "What is that?"

Riku was staring too; for once he seemed at a loss for words.

"I think," Roxas began, "it's a cannon."

"A what?" Sora asked, perplexed.

"It's similar to a caster, but it uses some kind of powder to fire instead of magic. Remember the explosion when we first went to Cid's house?"

Sora thought, and remembered the explosion, Merlin coming up the stairs shrouded in smoke, and the tremor that had ripped through the street. Was that what Cid had been working on?

"How do you know about them?" Namine asked.

"I read about it once, supposedly caster's replaced them because it was cheaper and safer to use magic than the powder that cannons require to fire."

Riku snorted. "So we're using an antiquated weapon that might explode in our faces, that's smart."

Cid heard the comment and scowled at Riku. "It's working isn't it boy?"

Riku didn't say anything, watching as a third shot tore into the Heartless lines. Despite the damage, they seemed unaffected, marching forwards inexorably and getting dangerously close the Knights. Ansem opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a screeching that pierced the brightening sky and sent shivers down Sora's spin and into his heart. Everyone watched in horror as a gargantuan Heartless rose above the horizon on massive wings and began flying towards them.

"Cid can your—"

"On it your Majesty."

The cannon burped again behind them, and the round sailed out into the sky. The Heartless flew straight at the shot without flinching, and the two collided in a spectacular explosion. There was a pause as everyone held their breath, waiting to see if the Heartless had survived. The smoke cleared, and the monster continued flying towards the encampment, letting out another piercing shriek.

Maleficent snorted. "Your piece of crockery is no match for something like that. As ever magic must be called upon to deal with such things."

She struck the ground with her staff, there was a flash of green and flames enveloped her, the King, Merlin, Cid, and the five bearers moved away as quickly as they could. Sora watched as something massive and black loomed out of the pillar of green flame, Maleficent was gone; in her place was a black scaled dragon with glowing green eyes, acidic saliva dripped from its gaping jaws and where it fell flames leapt forth. Without a word the dragon crouched and sprang to the skies towards the massive flying Heartless, letting out a war cry of its own to answer the shrieking monster. The two collided in mid-air and a deadly ballet began as the combatants writhed above the battlefield.

The King raised his hand and two blue lights shot into the air, Laguna's Knights charged, hundreds of multi-colored chocobos rushed towards the Heartless army. They slammed into the first rank and plowed through into the second and third before losing their momentum. That was when the fighting truly began, as Sora watched he saw Knights fall from their mounts, in a few cases they were picked up by flying Heartless and thrown to the ground to be swarmed by dozens of opponents. He thought of Laguna in that mass of armor and weapons and felt the cold knot in his stomach tightening.

Riku looked over at him, and for a change his voice was gentle. "It isn't what you imagined is it?"

Sora shook his head, reaching out and gripping Kairi's hand for comfort. He looked to the King, and was surprised to see how pained Ansem the Wise appeared to be. Besides him, Cid was sitting sullenly on his mount, his cannon was useless with the two armies engaged, and he'd failed to stop the giant flying Heartless which Maleficent was now driving further over the gorge.

The King sighed as he looked up at Maleficent, and then at Cid. "Merlin, will they ever see eye to eye?"

Merlin gave a benign smile. "I fear Sire that the two can't abide each other long enough to look at each other's feet let alone into the other's eyes."

The King snorted, Merlin gave a bow. "if you'll excuse me Sire?" Ansem nodded, and in an explosion of blue smoke, Merlin vanished and in his place a blue drake rose to the sky to join Maleficent in her battle with the much larger Heartless, blue lightening joining her green flame.

Sora looked away from the aerial battle to gaze back at the fighting below, he realized that most of the Knights had lost their mounts and were fighting afoot. They were slowly being pushed back too, he looked to the King desperately, who still sat calmly atop his golden chocobo and watched battle below.

Someone brushed by him, and he turned to see Sephiroth and a woman, Paine he supposed, walking past him. Paine paused to ruffle Riku's hair before joining Sephiroth at the King's side.

"The Elites are ready." Sephiroth intoned laconically, looking out at the battlefield.

"It took you long enough get out there and reinforce Laguna."

Sephiroth didn't respond, turning towards Sora and the others, "let's show the Knights how a real battle is fought."

Sora frowned and turned, his heart leaping into his throat. Where had they come from? Behind him were assembled hundreds of black and silver clad Elites, he searched their faces for his brothers and Tifa, finally spying Tifa and then Leon and Cloud. Tifa winked at him, his brothers didn't respond to his gaze which stung but he understood he supposed, this wasn't the time.

Besides Sephiroth, Paine stepped forwards, he scowled. "What are you doing?"

"I'm fighting for my King." She responded calmly.

"You are not going to fight."

She smiled coyly at him, kissing him in front of all assembled. "Catch me if you can." And with that she dropped off the edge of the rise and rushed towards the battle, drawing her sword as she fell. Sephiroth took a deep breath, regaining his composure before dropping after her, like an ocean tide the mass of black clad Elites flowed over the edge and dropped into the gorge below. As they passed, Sora felt a hand grip his shoulder tightly and he saw Leon give him a reassuring smile before he vanished over the edge as well.

There was a curious chirp from behind him, and he turned yet again to see Big Red strutting up to him proudly. He smiled; wrapping his arms around Red's armored neck.

"Thanks for bringing them back safely."

The chocobo squawked triumphantly, "Sora look." Sora turned at Kairi's voice and looked up to see the giant flying Heartless falling from the sky, its wings charred and torn, it hit the lip of the gorge, and then tumbled into the middle of the Heartless ranks, effectively cutting their number in half. Above, the two dragons bellowed and dove; searching for new targets, green flame and blue lighting raked the ground cutting swaths of destruction as the dragons flew overhead. The Heartless began to falter, Sora looked towards the Knights and saw them falling back, the Elites moved forwards in a line, hands outstretched. There was blinding flash, and a wave of white energy surged forth from the line of black and slammed into the Heartless, shredding them where they stood, shattering their resistance. The Elites lowered their arms and charged, the Knights remounted where they could, and where they couldn't simply joined the Elite's charge on foot. The mounted Knights quickly outpaced the Elites however, and for a moment Sora thought they would be trampled by the chocobos, at the last moment, the Knights pulled their birds back and in a single motion the chocobos leapt over the line of rushing soldiers and landed atop the opposing Heartless, sowing further confusion as the Elites and dismounted Knights crashed into their front.

From that point on the battle was one sided, there were one or two cases were the Heartless held out, but those positions were quickly reduced to ash by Merlin and Maleficent. There was even a point when three giants loomed up out of the Heartless army and had briefly driven the Elites and Knights back, but then the two dragons fell upon them, burning and charring two, and lifting the third into the air and tearing it to pieces. When the battle finally ended, the remaining Heartless were fleeing in disorder, pursued by those Knights who still had their birds and two very angry and bloodthirsty dragons.

The sun was directly above their heads when the King finally called a cease to the combat and led the doctors and healers into the gorge to tend to the wounded. Sora walked besides him, leading Red by the bridle when he heard Cid state jubilantly.

"We won!"

Ansem nodded solemnly. "At what cost, and can we do it again?"

Sora frowned, uncomprehending until they reached the battlefield. Twisted limbs, groans and cries from the wounded and dying soldiers and animals, and above all the sight and smell of blood. He lost his breakfast then, and he wasn't alone.


	23. Extra: The Battle

Laguna rode up and down the ranks of Knights, he'd already inspected all his sub-commanders and there was very little else he could do aside from hope that they'd done the same thing with their captains and that their captains had followed suit with their lieutenants. Sometimes he missed being a rank and file cavalryman. The three diamond wedges pointed towards the gorge, overlapping at their outer tips to provide a continuous wall of armored flesh. He hefted his lance, stroking Baast with his free hand as he wheeled the black around yet again he reached the center formation and backed Baast into the ranks.

He looked up behind him to see the King had ridden out, he always admired the big golden bird that Ansem the Wise rode, and she was a real piece of work. He hoped to someday breed Baast with her, see what came of a pairing between a speed demon like that, and a war bird like Baast. Julia teased him that he was more interested in chocobo husbandry than being an actual husband, which he felt was unfair, he was just very devoted to his work. Thinking of Julia made him smile, though it was a sad smile, he remembered waking up before dawn that morning and donning his under-armor before going to the barracks to get fully suited.

Seeing the tears in her eyes had not been easy, nor had kissing them away; it had simply made it harder for him to leave. Knowing that Tifa would be joining this battle did not make it any easier, he didn't know what he would do if any of his girls were hurt. He knew that despite his avoidant and distant nature Cloud would protect Tifa, but no where in a battle was there such a thing as safe. The stamp of thousands of feet drew his mind back to the gorge before him and he swore as the first ranks of Heartless marched around the rise ahead of the Knights.  
Somewhere behind him he saw a flash, he turned to see one of Cid's flares going off, a moment later the earth shook and he swore as he and every other Knight gripped their reins and tried to calm the terrified animals. There was no denying though that Cid's weapon did damage. It landed in the midst of the advancing Heartless and shattered their formation, granted they closed the gap instantly, but how long could they keep that up? A second shot tore through the ranks a moment later and he was pleased to see that it took longer this time for them to fill the hole. Maybe this would work.

That was when the piercing shriek echoed throughout the sky and he felt ice grip his heart as a winged Heartless rose over the gorge, if the sun hadn't been behind the Knights, Laguna was certain that this beast would have blocked it out. A third shot echoed and Laguna cheered with the rest of the Knights when the round hit the Heartless, the cheer turned to shouts of outrage when the monster plowed through the explosion without so much as a scratch; he watched as it flew towards the Knights and braced himself, this was going to hurt, he just hoped he'd have enough Knights left to lead a charge.

Then another savior appeared, a black dragon rammed into the Heartless and the two began twisting in and writhing, locked in combat in the sky each trying desperately to slaughter the other. He smiled grimly, if she'd let him, he'd have to buy the scary witch a drink after this. There was another flash from a flare and he turned to see the two blue flares that signaled the attack, he raised his lance high.

"For your King, for your Land, for your Families, charge!"

The shout that rang from his throat was joined by hundreds more voices and the collected war cries of hundreds more chocobos as the three wedges charged, lances lowered and armored arms raised. The Heartless had stopped marching and Laguna watched as they closed the distance in seconds, the first rank rose up to meet him and he watched as weapons and armor shattered and were pushed aside under the force of the charge. The first rank broke, and they were through to the second but there were still dozens of ranks beyond, their work was only just beginning. The momentum of the charge kept them going through the second rank and into the third, and there the charge finally stalled.

Lances were dropped and swords, axes, maces and casters were drawn. The clash of metal rang all around, intermixed with the snap and flash of casters and the hisses, screams, and shrieks of the combatants. Laguna took the head off one Heartless which bumbled around like a headless bird before it melted away, thankfully the armor was weak. Apparently Xehanort didn't have much of an inventory when it came to arming and protecting his army and that was something at least. Something grabbed onto his shoulder plate and lifted him off his saddle, he swung up and cut the offending flier's leg off, sending himself plummeting to the ground.

Baast stood over him, clawing and snapping at the surrounding Heartless as he picked himself up, raising his blade to block yet another attack. The massive black chocobo shrieked in rage and fury and the Heartless around them faltered at the ferocity of the pair. Taking a breather as the Heartless gathered for another attack he looked around him and winced, there were very few Knights left mounted. That was neither good nor bad but it would mean precious time would be wasted if they had to remount. The Heartless began pushing again and Laguna fell back with the other Knights, then there was a crash above their heads and human, chocobo, and Heartless looked up to see the giant winged Heartless crashing into the gorge from above. Its massive body fell in amongst the Heartless, sealing off part of their army.

A cheer went up as two dragons dove out the sky and raked the ground with lightening and fire, sowing further confusion in the Heartless ranks.

"Elites!" Someone shouted.

Laguna turned to see the black uniforms advancing, he smiled, remounting Baast and waving his sword over his head.

"Knights fall back!"

Those that could remounted and those that couldn't simply ran, the Heartless saw this as an opportunity and rushed after the retreating soldiers, as Laguna passed the Elites he spied Sephiroth.

"Took your sweet time," he shouted.

Sephiroth merely eyed him with a blank stare before continuing towards the oncoming Heartless. As one the Elites stopped in their tracks, Laguna pulled Baast to a stop and turned him around, interestingly enough he'd ended up directly behind Tifa's unit.

"What do you think?" He heard Leon ask.

"I think," Cloud replied. "If there was one or two more I'd have a problem."

"Well those will be the one's I get then."

"Oh, you're fighting too? Well there won't be a problem then."

He heard Tifa laugh, "men," she scoffed, and Laguna couldn't hide his smile despite the dire situation.

The Elites raised their arms and he watched as if in slow motion as they spoke in one voice, "oblivion!" and a wave of white snaking light fired off from their fingers and tore into the oncoming Heartless who scattered under the barrage.

"Alright, let's get the bastards!" he turned towards the voice and saw one of Sephiroth's sons, Kadaj he thought, it was hard to tell with the triplets sometimes, rush forwards. The other Elites followed suit and Laguna rallied the Knights to join the charge as well. He bore down on the backs of the Elites and at the last possible instant he pulled Baast back, the chocobo squawked, pulling at the reins and jumping, spreading his wings and sailing over the heads of the charging soldiers and landing in amongst the Heartless. On either side of him more Knights landed in the midst of the Heartless and began cutting their way forwards. Baast reared, and threw Laguna as he fell. Clambering to his feet he turned to find a spear imbedded in Baast's chest, tears stung his eyes and he turned to hack and slash at the Heartless holding the spear, battering the armor into a pulp with the shrieking Heartless inside.

"Commander!"

He turned to see the girl from Traverse, Petria pushing her way towards him.

"Your blue?"

"She's fine; I couldn't remount her in time."

He nodded, looking at Baast's corpse bitterly; it was almost as bad as losing Julia or one of his girls, almost.

"Oh god," she murmured.

Laguna turned and swore as three giant Heartless rose from the ranks and began advancing, tossing Elites and Knights this way and that as they came. One Elite was tossed towards Laguna, he caught the smaller man in his arms and swore as Kadaj coughed up blood convulsing violently.

"Sir we've got to fall back!" Petria called.

"I'm not leaving him hear while he's breathing."

She nodded grimly, standing her ground besides him as they shielded Kadaj, the three giants were almost upon them when first one was wrapped in green flames, and then another engulfed in blue lightening. They fell like leaves, and then the two massive drakes descended upon the third, lifting it shrieking all the way, into the air and tearing it in two. Petria stood stunned as the dragons flew out over the battle continuing their carnage.

Laguna smiled. "That solves one problem."

He knelt down next to Kadaj, who was still coughing up blood and slid a potion into his mouth, clamping his mouth shut and forcing him to swallow it. Once he had he stood and began to follow the retreating battle.

"What about him sir, you said we couldn't leave him."

"We're not, he'll be fine so long as we keep pushing forwards, I wasn't going to let the Heartless take him, but they're running and our job is to beat them back."

Petria shot a look back at Kadaj, frowning for a moment before following. Laguna rejoined the battle and hacked his way forwards, looking to his left he spied Sephiroth.

"Your boy is hurt."

Sephiroth nodded curtly, slashing another foe clean in two.

"I gave him a potion, hopefully it'll take."

Again Sephiroth nodded and continued fighting.

"Aren't you going to see him?" He yelled.

"He's a soldier, he knows the risks, and so do I."

Laguna scowled, pushing forwards again, cold hearted bastard. Something barreled into his side and he fell over, the Heartless slashed at him with metal claws and knocked his blade away. The next slash cut straight through his armor, opening it like a can, he felt a searing pain in his chest saw red mist spurt into the air before his eyes. Then the Heartless was sent flying by a ludicrously sized blade and Cloud and Tifa were above him.

She knelt down, her eyes wrought with worry, "Daddy can you hear me?"

He smiled up at her. "Hey sweetie, I'm fine."

His eyes focused and he realized that she had a vicious cut across the side of her head. He reached up and brushed her cheek. "Your mother is going to kill me."

She laughed, then her eyes widened in shock as something hit her in the side, she fell atop him and he swore as she fell against his wound, pain blotting out his vision for a moment. He grasped for a weapon and grabbed a mace; he swung it wildly, smacking the thing that had hit Tifa into the air like a ball. Rolling out from under Tifa he felt for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he found one, Cloud and Leon were besides him now, he didn't see Zack anywhere but he didn't concern himself with that.

Standing over Tifa, he bellowed at the Heartless facing him. "I've got two more daughters and a wife to return to, the likes of you are not taking that from me come on!"

Swinging the mace, he beat them back, Leon's caster fired repeatedly and Cloud's blade cut down entire swathes of Heartless, as the numbers facing him thinned he remained where he was by Tifa, he'd be damned if he'd leave his girl here by herself. The Knights were intermixed with the Elites and the Heartless now anyways, it wasn't like there was anything he could do himself to turn the tide of the battle. He remained with Tifa for the remainder of the battle, though he chased Cloud and Leon off to continue fighting, he never left her side, and when the fighting finally abated he carried her back towards the rear where the doctors and healers would be assembling.

Carrying her in his arms reminded him of when she'd been a little girl, holding her up in his arms for the first time, watching her take her first steps, her first word, embarrassingly enough had been Baast. That had been his fault; Julia still teased him about it. He passed the spot where he'd left Kadaj, Sephiroth was lifting his son in his arms, carrying the groaning boy in the same direction as Laguna was walking. The two men exchanged glances, Laguna's sympathetic, Sephiroth's impassive though Laguna saw the pain behind Sephiroth's gaze and smiled sadly inside. No matter how inhuman Sephiroth wanted to be, he couldn't help being a father.


	24. Chapter 21

"Sora are you alright?"

Sora nodded, trying not to gag as he helped Aerith tend to the injured Elite. There was a rustling at the front of the tent; Sora looked up to see Paine coming in. Aerith shook her head; Paine nodded stoically, kneeling next to the dying soldier.

"Mother?" Whispered Kadaj weakly as he reached out for her hand, she gripped it tightly.

"I'm right here."

"I'm scared."

She nodded, putting her other hand atop his; there were tears in her eyes.

"I know it'll be alright though. You'll be fine, I promise."

"Are Yazoo and Loz alright?"

"Yes, they're fine; they're helping your father."

"Father's fine too?"

"Yes, he is. He's very proud of you."

Kadaj opened his mouth, and then frowned, his face slackening as his breath rattled between his lips and his eyes dimmed. Paine stood, putting his limp hand on his chest, gently closing his eyes and running her hand over his forehead as she leaned down and kissed it. She closed her eyes and tears slipped out from under her eyelids, Aerith moved to comfort her but she pushed her away, turning and leaving the tent with a whispered excuse.

Aerith swallowed, biting back her own tears as she looked towards Sora quietly. "This is horrible."

Sora nodded, unsure what he was supposed to say, looking at Kadaj's body, this wasn't anything like he'd imagined, and he'd expected the Heartless to be easy to beat. They'd killed so many though, and there were many more wounded, somewhere in the city of tents that had appeared on the outskirts of the battlefield Roxas, Namine, Kairi, and Riku were doing what he was doing, helping other healers and doctors. The King was even wandering throughout the camp and visiting the injured and dying, bolstering courage and comforting those that were beyond help.

"Have you ever…"

Despite the unfinished question Aerith smiled, shaking her head, "no. I don't look that old do I?" Sora shook his head; she walked over and held him gently. "I haven't seen Zack yet, I don't even know if he's okay, all I can do is hope and keep doing my job." She knelt in front of him, smiling up at him. "We just have to believe that things will be better."

"Or you could turn around."

Aerith turned, Zack was standing in the tent's entrance smiling, his face was bandaged and filthy and his armor was torn, revealing minor cuts and bruises, but he seemed fine. Aerith ran to him wrapping her arms around him tightly, Zack winced but didn't protest, gingerly putting his arms around her. Sora took the chance to duck out of the tent, passing a pair of orderlies with a stretcher bearing another injured soldier; they'd take Kadaj away and put him…where? Sora wondered where all the dead were being taken, but decided that he didn't want to know. He found a quiet place on the outskirts of the camp, away from everyone else and the battlefield, the nice thing about the Heartless was that they faded away after they died leaving just their armor and weapons behind. It lessened the carnage to some degree he supposed.

He thought of Kadaj, of Paine, and began wondering if somewhere in the sea of tents Cloud or Leon was dying like Kadaj had, he'd wanted to ask Zack but it had just seemed wrong to bother him when he was with Aerith after all this. He began to cry, lowering his head between his knees and rocking back and forth. A hand rested on his shoulder and he jumped, looking up to see Roxas standing over him, his eyes red from his own tears. Roxas sat down next to him and put his arms around him, Sora leaned against him and wrapped his arms around Roxas in turn and the two of them sat there for a long time crying and not saying anything about what they'd seen.

"I watched Riku's cousin die." Sora finally said.

"I'm sorry," Roxas whispered, "I guess I've been lucky, I didn't know any of them."

Sora shook his head, releasing his cousin and wiping his eyes. "I didn't know him, but what is Riku going to feel once he finds out?"

Roxas nodded somberly, not saying anything, there was silence between them again before Sora spoke.

"Cloud and Leon?"

"I haven't seen them, you haven't either I guess."

He shook his head, looking down at the rocky ground, kicking a stone away to pass the time and take his mind off his brothers.

"There you are."

They turned; Laguna was walking towards them, Sora's eyes widened when he saw the gash on Laguna's chest plate, his armor had been completely shattered and torn through and it hung on his breast like a tattered flag, exposing a ragged slash across his chest stained with blood.

"Are you—"

"I'm fine, Julia will skin me, but I'm fine. I took a potion and the doctors stitched it up. I'll be back to normal in no time."

He came to a stop above them, looking down at them with a frown. "You two shouldn't be over here you know, your brothers are looking for you."

Both boys' eyes lit up and they spoke in near unison. "They're alright?"

"Well Cloud is with Tifa, she has a nasty gash on the side of her head and something hit her in the stomach pretty hard so he's brooding like a mother hen and won't move until she comes to, but Leon's up and about with Rinoa looking for the pair of you."

Despite his good natured tone there was no hiding, even from the boys, the fact that he was pained when he spoke of Tifa's injuries.

"Is she alright?" Roxas asked tentatively.

"She's not dead." Laguna said deadpan, trying on his smile for a moment before discarding it. "That's all I can ask for right now." He scowled. "Now come on both of you, we'll go wait with Cloud."

Laguna pulled back the flap of the tent, there were several beds laid out and most of them had wounded soldiers on them. Roxas spied Cloud against the opposite wall and rushed through the maze of beds to latch onto him tightly. Cloud jumped, turning to look at Roxas with a scowl.

"Don't do that!"

Roxas glared up at him, hugging him tighter. "Shut up, I didn't know where you were or if you were dead or alive. I saw so many—"

He choked and Cloud put his arms around Roxas uncomfortably as he tried to comfort his little brother.

"Thank you Laguna."

Laguna shrugged. "You've been watching Tifa all this time; I had to repay the favor."

Cloud looked over at Sora, who was feeling very left out and extended an arm with an exasperated sigh, Sora rushed him too, nearly toppling the stool Cloud was sitting on.

Cloud looked up at Laguna who was smiling. "Wait until you have your own, this won't be the half of it."

He scowled, looking back at Tifa lying on the cot besides him, his scowl turning to a worried frown. Leon pushed through the tent flap with Rinoa who went to Laguna, hugging him gently.

"Is she awake yet?"

He shook his head; Leon walked past him and knelt, wrapping his arms around Sora and Roxas from behind. They shifted to hug him as well; Cloud managed to extricate himself from the mass of hugging and turned back to Tifa.

Sora wiped his eyes as he smiled at Leon. "I'm glad you're okay."

He ruffled Sora's hair. "I told you I'd be fine."

The tent flap shifted again and Ansem pushed his way inside, scanning quickly before he spied Laguna.

Everyone but Cloud bowed, he remained seated and didn't even shift when the King approached. Ansem paid him no mind as he spoke.

"How are your Knights Laguna?"

"We lost about a third of our number, and half of our chocobos Sire; if we have to fight again it'll be as a mixed force unless we have more chocobos here in a hurry."

Ansem nodded grimly. "The Elites sustained limited casualties thanks to your Knights' bravery in the opening portion of the battle. Lady Paine informs me that they lost about a quarter of their forces, including one of her sons I'm afraid."

Laguna nodded grimly. "Was there any action in the city?"

"Messengers inform me that there were limited incursions during the height of the fighting but between Rikku's Grace and Soldier there was no true threat. It would seem Xehanort concentrated his forces here in the gorge."

"How much of the army got away?"

"Over half, Maleficent and Merlin followed them for sometime; they melted away after they escaped the gorge."

Laguna nodded his expression souring. "We didn't kill nearly enough of the bastards then." He frowned. "Why didn't they do what they did at Traverse and just come out of the ground?"

Ansem smiled. "I think I have an answer for that, I believe Xehanort found a way to the world's heart through the sewers in Traverse."

Laguna winced. "So he was already beneath Traverse when he attacked, that still doesn't answer why he didn't try to be a little less conventional, he's no general, he had to know that we'd have an advantage in a slugging match, even with superior numbers, we're just better trained."

"I do not believe he can control them when they teleport, the Heartless attacking Hollow Bastion directly were reported to be uncoordinated and rabid whereas the ones we faced were well organized and behaved much like a regular army, albeit a poorly trained and led army."

"Something in their teleportation disrupts his control?"

Ansem nodded. "It appears that he needs time to regain control of them, I imagine it has something to do with the World Heart and not having enough control over it, after all it is the World Heart which enables the Heartless to move about from place to place."

"Daddy…?"

Laguna spun around at Tifa's voice; Ansem smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"I won't keep you any longer; I'll summon you when we're ready to return to Hollow Bastion."

Laguna knelt down next to Tifa, she smiled, hugging him tenderly, though she frowned when she spied the gash in his armor and wound underneath, tracing her hand around the edges of the jagged tear.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore," he said, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

Sora saw tears in Laguna's eyes and found that he was surprised. Laguna always seemed to be more than human, stronger than everyone else and to see him crying, even a little, was disconcerting.

Tifa looked over at Cloud sitting next to her cot, smiling. "Hey soldier boy, you've been here the entire time?"

He nodded quietly, his face betraying nothing of what he was feeling. She leaned up, putting a hand behind his head and pulling him down, they kissed and Cloud didn't protest in the slightest. Laguna moved away tactfully, pushing Sora and Roxas in front of him.

"You okay old man?" Leon asked with a smile.

Laguna smiled at him. "Between the four of you I expect a lot of grandkids to take care of me in my old age."

Leon actually flushed as he looked at Rinoa, she punched her father playfully.

"Stop it Dad, we aren't even engaged."

Laguna blinked and shrugged. "You mother and I got Tifa started before we were engaged. I'd just given her the engagement ring that night as a matter of fact."

"Okay that's more than I needed to hear." Rinoa said, blushing.

Sora agreed he didn't want to hear about Laguna's accomplishments when it came to bringing children into the world, it was a little more information than he wanted to have.

Roxas leaned close to him. "You realize that at this rate Dad's going to be baking birthday cakes all year round."

The thought made Sora happy, he loved those cakes, and thinking about them was making him hungry.

Roxas looked over at Cloud and Tifa, still holding each other and kissing. Seeing them reminded him of Namine. He hadn't seen her since the first casualties had been brought back and they'd all gotten commandeered by whoever happened to be in the area and needed help. He wondered how she was doing, and wished he could hold her for just a moment. He felt something warm grow in his chest, and looked over at Sora who was looking at him too. Maybe all four of them were having the same thought, and maybe that was good enough for now.


	25. Chapter 22

Author's Note: Yes this is early, but I'm sick, stuck at home and bored…plus this chapter was just too cute and amusing to not post. Don't worry those who like the darker stuff, I just figured that my poor bereaved cast deserved a little reprieve.

"I hate this." Sora grumbled, looking at himself in the full length mirror.

Leon snorted, as he tightened the collar of Sora's formal wear.

"You look fine, stop complaining."

"Why is the King throwing a party now? We haven't won yet or anything."

"Because it will ease people's nerves; a lot of people died or were hurt during the battle and the King wants everyone to unwind for a little while we still have the chance."

"But why do we have to dress up, you know I hate this stuff."

Leon grinned. "Oh I know, that's why I'm enjoying this so much."

Sora frowned and looked at the mirror again.

"Oh stop whining," Riku said from across the room. "Kairi's going to be dressed up too."

Sora flushed wondering what Kairi would be wearing to the dance. Besides him Roxas fussed with his vest nervously his mind on a similar vein running parallel to his only about Namine.

"Do you know what Rinoa is going to wear?"

Leon smiled up at him as he finished checking over Sora's outfit and stood. "I have no idea, but that's part of the fun."

"That reminds me, where did Cloud go?" Roxas inquired.

"Oh he's probably arriving with Tifa." Leon said with a knowing smile.

Since the battle and Tifa's injuries Cloud had become increasingly easy going in her presence going so far as to let her hold his hand and go out with her without so much as flinching. He was still quiet and reserved, but his guard was easing and everyone agreed the change was a good thing though it made things around the pair a little duller.

Riku moved towards the door, casting a last look at Roxas and Sora. "If you two aren't out there soon I'm going to ask one of the girls to dance with me."

The boys scrambled after him, Leon followed after them with a knowing smile flitting across his face. They passed through the adjoining hallway and emerged in a brilliantly lit ballroom, there were already hundreds of guests and the orchestra had already begun to play. The four of them found a corner to stand in and began looking for familiar faces. Roxas frowned as a low murmur ran through the crowd and every head turned towards the main entrance to the ballroom. His eyes widened when he saw Kairi and Namine's Grandmother entering through the large doors, dressed in a long flowing blue and silver gown that seemed out of place on such an elderly lady.

She walked through the crowd, a path clearing for her as she approached. When she reached the King's raised dais she bowed.

"Your Majesty."

"Finally we meet," Ansem's voice boomed. "Madame Mim, your reputation precedes you."

She looked up at him, her face and voice expressionless though she and Maleficent exchanged a brief and heated glance.

"Unfortunately Sire; for I have given up my past."

"So it would seem, you hid your grandchildren from us very well."

"Only for their protection Majesty, I did not want them hurt until it was unavoidable."

Ansem the Wise nodded, standing and taking a withered hand and raising Madame Mim up besides him. Roxas recalled how warm and virile Mim's hands had felt and wondered what the King felt in those bony fingers.

"Let it be known that Madame Mim, once declared an outlaw and traitor, is excused from all wrong doing from this day forth. She is to be treated as any other citizen of our kingdom. I will not abide any mistreatment of her, by anyone."

With this last comment Ansem shot Maleficent a pointed glance, and though it was minor she did incline her head. Madame Mim smiled up at the King, bowing graciously; she looked very smug.

"Thank you Majesty."

He nodded, allowing her to step away, the music resumed and people began to return to their food and dances. Sora and Roxas watched as Madame Mim was intercepted by Merlin, he bowed to her and extended a hand. She smiled, and took the hand, both boys blinked in astonishment as both Merlin and Mim changed right before their eyes. No longer were an elderly man and woman standing before the throne, but instead two young and lively people beaming at each other like newfound lovers. Madame Mim's dress seemed much more fitting now, and Roxas flushed as he realized he had the thought about Namine's grandmother.

He turned away from the pair and jumped in surprise to see Rinoa standing besides Leon, leaning against him with a smile.

"I'm glad the girls won't have to worry about that anymore."

Leon shrugged. "They didn't know until a few days ago remember?"

She frowned up at him. "What if your Aunt or Uncle turned out to be a wanted fugitive? Wouldn't that worry you?"

Leon considered. "I suppose, but it worked out in the end didn't it?"

"Oh you're impossible, come on, we're dancing."

As Rinoa pulled Leon out onto the ballroom floor Roxas turned to see Yuna approaching them. He hadn't seen her since Rikku's death, he knew the two had been close and as she came towards him he felt some of his guilt returning. He opened his mouth, but she shook her head to forestall him.

"I don't blame you Roxas, I just wanted you to know that alright? It wasn't your fault and I don't want you to think we can't still be friends because of it."

He nodded mutely, feeling very uncomfortable under her gentle smile. Riku of all people came to his rescue.

"Would you like to dance?"

Yuna blinked in surprise, blushing slightly as Riku took her hand and led her away, Roxas breathed a sigh of relief as the pair moved off.

"Have you seen Kairi or Namine yet?"

Roxas shook his head, scanning the crowd looking for them. He supposed that they might not have come after all, he did spy Cloud and Tifa finally they were standing together and speaking quietly to one another away from the rest of the guests. Seeing his brother being so intimate with another person was a little strange, he looked elsewhere, still searching for Namine.

"Wow." Sora said.

Roxas turned where his cousin was looking and felt his face light up as Kairi and Namine walked up to them, they looked as nervous as Roxas felt. While Kairi wore a full silvery blue ball gown that touched the floor, Namine wore something far simpler, a cream colored dress with the hem ending just below her knees. Roxas thought it was perfect. Sora moved first, reaching out and taking Kairi's hand, she smiled at him nervously and they led each other out onto the floor.

"She's never danced before." Namine said, stopping in front of Roxas.

"Have you?" He asked, his heart trembling as she leaned against him.

"Once."

He felt a stab of jealousy, "another boy?"

She giggled, looking up at him, her eyes sparkling. "Would it bother you if it was?"

"I—" Roxas looked away, his face heating.

She smiled, putting her hands around his waist. "Waka, a boy from Destin, asked me to dance once at a party someone's parents were throwing. We were ten, I think we looked like idiots but it was fun."

Roxas' heart was going a mile a minute as she leaned into him, he had his arms around her as well and they were just standing there away from the dancing and enjoying each other's presence.

"Boy if you don't take my girl dancing I will have to bewitch you in order to coax your feet."

Roxas jumped, looking over to see Mim, the young Mim, standing next to a young Merlin smiling at him.

She nodded to the dance floor. "Go on, enjoy youth while it lasts."

He found it a bit odd that someone who could apparently change age at will was chiding him on youth; but he took the cue, taking Namine's hand in his and guiding her out nervously into the swaying crowd.

"I've never danced before."

Namine nodded, looking down at their feet. "My grandmother once gave us the basic idea."

She took his hand, placing it on her hip, reaching her other hand to hold his shoulder and finally clasping his hand with the first. Taking a deep breath, like they were about to jump into the air they began. It was slow really, dictated by the movements of the crowd around them. Once or twice they jostled into another couple but everyone was good natured about it thankfully. After several missteps and blunders Roxas got the hang of things and began to move confidently with Namine. She smiled, moving closer to him and leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes. The move dictated they slow and they began to simply sway back and forth across the dance floor. Roxas looked over Namine's head, spying Leon and Rinoa and trying not to stare as the pair dazzled a small audience, dancing as if they'd been doing it their entire lives. Leon spied Roxas and cast him a smile and winked, Roxas looked down at Namine, wondering if what Rinoa and Leon had found was what was in store for himself and Namine. He hoped so.

"Namine, do you think we'll make it through all of this?"

She didn't move as she spoke, remaining against him. "I don't know, I wish I could tell you I've dreamed and drawn how this ends so I could tell you, but I haven't…and I can't force what I see."

He nodded, his grip tightening around her. "No matter what I'll make sure you get through this."

She shook her head. "Only if you're there too Roxas, I don't want to grow up and get old without you being there with me. It would be too lonely."

He looked down at her; she was looking up at him now, her eyes shimmering with light. Hesitantly they leaned together, their lips touching as they kissed and held each other closely, they stopped dancing and just stood there holding one another as the party swirled around them.

"Sora, look," Kairi said impishly.

Sora followed her eyes and felt his eyes pop. "What are they doing?"

"Kissing of course, can't you tell?"

He scowled, flushing a little. "Well yeah but—"

"Quiet you, they're allowed to have fun right?"

"Are you alright Kairi?"

Her smile faltered for a moment. "We didn't have to fight this time, but what about next time?"

"The King will think of something."

"I suppose but, Sora you saw what happened, all those people." She shuddered at the memory of the battle's aftermath; he put his arms around her gently.

"Hey it'll be alright, remember what everyone keeps saying right? So long as we're together we can't fail, we only get stronger when we're all with each other."

She nodded. "I'll just have to keep on believing that."

His enthusiastic smile was contagious. "You bet, we'll all get through this just wait and see."

Kairi poked him playfully in the chest, her mood changing. "So you lazy bum, when are you going to kiss me?"

Sora lost his composure and blushed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, that is—I uh…."

"Oh come on Sora, do I have to write you a letter? Kiss me."

He did, and immediately forgot about everything else around him as they embraced, understanding just what Namine and Roxas were doing and not caring all at the same time.

"Oh Merlin, how do they get away from us so fast?" Mim sighed as she watched both her granddaughters.

Merlin chuckled. "Oh they're young yet Madame. You still have plenty of years to watch over them."

She nodded, looking at him mischievously. "Speaking of years, it's been years has it not?"

He cleared his throat, coughing conspicuously, without the beard to hide his expressions he resorted to less subtle means.

"Madame I'm an old man."

"And I'm an old woman."

She reached behind him and he jumped in alarm. "Madame!"

Shaking her head she chuckled. "Oh stop, you're not as senile or as forgetful as you act. You remember all those years ago when youth wasn't merely a spell."

Despite his re-cast youth Merlin still wore his spectacles which he now righted, "indeed."

She sighed at his vagueness. "So help me Merlin if you make my life any harder then we'll have to have a duel and to the winner go the spoils."

He chuckled, stroking a beardless chin. "I seem to recall our last outing resulted with you in bed and deathly ill."

Her smile darkened and a mad twinkle sparked in her eyes. "Yes and you helped me break that confounded bed if I recall you old goat."

The pair laughed, chuckling at ancient memories rekindled by the next generation's new found hope and strength as they continued to dance grandly around the ballroom.


	26. Chapter 23

Sora looked at the map of Traverse Town laid out on the table in front of them all; he wondered how they were supposed to get inside of it considering the walls surrounding the town proper were apparently a hundred feet high and twenty feet thick.

"Trust me," Cid muttered. "There isn't a way to assault Traverse with traditional methods from outside of the walls. The only reason that bastard took it so easily was because he came up beneath it."

"Then how do you propose we get the bearers there Cid? After all this is the only place we know of that may have access to the heart. We don't have many options."

Maleficent's comment struck home with all assembled, the last battle had been won but the casualty rate had been high. No one doubted that in a war of attrition Xehanort would eventually win no matter how superior the tactics used by the kingdom's forces; hence why something as ludicrous as attacking Xehanort at Traverse Town was being considered.

Sora kept looking over the map, frowning as the adults debated and bickered. He frowned as he recalled that Maleficent and Merlin could fly.

"Could we fly in?"

Maleficent snorted. "How do you propose we do that boy? You can hardly grow wings and flutter in over the walls."

Merlin considered. "Well I could change the bearers into birds certainly, but I'd have to be there to—"

"Pinfeathers," Archimedes screeched from atop Merlin's hat. "They wouldn't know the first thing about flying even if you did change them into birds."

Mim nodded quietly; in light of her pardon she'd been added to Ansem's inner circle. "As much as I dislike old feather brain," Archimedes puffed up indignantly. "He's right, we'd have to teach the children how to fly, and even then there would be no guarantee that the Heartless wouldn't simply attack them in flight. After all they are drawn to the keyblades and their bearers."

Cid had been silent since the flight idea had been proposed, stewing in his own thoughts, he looked up now. "I might have an idea."

Maleficent eyed him condescendingly. "Not another of your mechanical contrivances. Remember how well your cannon worked?"

Cid glowered. "It worked fine until that giant showed up, and Merlin had to help you with that one woman."

Ansem sighed in exasperation, "enough both of you, Cid continue."

"I have this thing I've been working on…an airship I call it, it's a ship that sails through the air on gas and motorized propellers; anyways it could be used to fly us over the town, we'd need a way to get down of course without landing…and someone would have to fly interference for us. The gas is combustible."

Merlin snapped his fingers. "I believe I have just the thing! I call it a parachute; I designed it to allow controlled descent from high areas."

Ansem blinked slowly, and then began massaging his temples. "I don't know what is worse, that I'm hearing this from the two of you or that I'm actually considering it." He looked between the pair, steepling his fingers. "How likely is this to work?"

Paine stepped up. "The parachute works Majesty; I've tested one from the lip of the gorge."

Sephiroth blinked and looked at her in annoyance. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because I knew you'd object and wasn't in the mood to fight over something so trivial; besides Merlin needed a test subject other than himself, I had the time and it sounded fun."

Sephiroth glowered at Merlin who merely smiled benignly, Sora was getting the distinct feeling that Paine and Sephiroth's marriage was based partially on her ability to worry and irk him since she seemed to take enjoyment in doing just that.

Ansem sighed, "remind me in the future that when I assemble my advisors and generals I should make sure they're capable of behaving like adults in my presence." He stood. "So we have a means to get over Traverse, and a means to get into it. However I don't want the bearers to go in alone; Sephiroth one of your Elite squads should suffice."

"Sire I will not commit my people to this kind of farce." Sephiroth stated flatly.

"Oh you won't have to, I believe the boys' brothers make up half of one squad and the other half will probably want to go with them rather than let two of their squad-mates get themselves killed in this farce as you call it."

Sephiroth twitched, but nodded agreement not having anything that he could really say or do to prevent Cloud or Leon from going with their little brothers, especially when the King had essentially just given them permission.

"They're likely the best choices Majesty," he said deadpan. "That squad has a habit to tend towards recklessness regardless of orders, and they're some of our best fighters as well."

Laguna snorted, smiling, Sora had a feeling he knew why. Tifa was no doubt cause of much of the trouble. Knowing Laguna he was probably proud of that fact.

"So we have that settled, Cid you said the….airship," the King said the word as if it tasted strange. "Would need an escort of some kind to prevent damage?"

Cid nodded, Ansem turned towards Maleficent, Merlin, and Mim. "If you three wouldn't mind accompanying Cid's contraption, I presume you can assume a dragon form as easily as these two Madame Mim?"

Mim chuckled mischievously. "Oh mine is even better Sire."

Merlin continued to smile politely at this, while Maleficent simply sneered. Ansem looked around the assembled party with a long sigh. "I am not certain whose mind is gone at this point my friends. Ours for thinking this is going to work, or Xehanort for thinking he can stop us."

"Hey have a little faith your Majesty, I guarantee that my baby will fly!" Cid said confidently.

"Cid have you ever test flown this thing?" Laguna asked.

"Well…not like this no."

A few of the assembled laughed, others exchanged dubious glances, Sora simply grinned, brimming with excitement, besides him Roxas groaned.

"So let me get this straight, we're going to fly over Traverse Town in one of Cid's machines, an untested machine at that, whereupon we're jumping out of this untested machine using one of Merlin's tested machines into the middle of a Heartless infested town."

"Yep," Sora said cheerily as he ate.

Besides him Roxas lowered his head in embarrassment, Leon and Cloud exchanged looks before Tifa continued.

"And you expect us to come with you?"

"Well the King expected that Leon and Cloud wouldn't let us do this without them, and he thought that you and Zack would want to come as well since they'd be going."

"Do Kairi and Namine know about this?" Cloud asked.

Roxas nodded sourly. There was a pause before Leon spoke up.

"Do they approve?"

Roxas looked miserable. "Yes."

Leon burst out laughing, besides him Zack was grinning. "Aerith is going to kill me when I tell her about this."

"Not if the Heartless get you first Zack." Tifa supplied.

"Oh they've yet to throw anything at us that strong."

That brought more laughter from the table, accepting Roxas who still looked miserable.

"You're all insane."

Cloud smiled quietly. "What do you think Leon, do we tell Mother?"

"Are you kidding, Aunt Tara would be up here in a heartbeat with rope and chains to make sure we didn't do this."

"So we definitely tell Mother then." Cloud said and the pair exchanged amused grins, Sora couldn't help but grin himself, sometimes things never changed and it was a good thing.

"So you'll come with us?"

"Stupid question," Cloud said deadpan, taking a bite of his food.

"Of course we're going with you," said Zack. "How else do you expect to fight off all those Heartless, by yourselves?"

Roxas looked pleadingly at Tifa. "Please tell me you're against this."

She smiled gently at him, reaching over and ruffling his hair. "Sorry Roxas, but if the King says we're doing this we don't get much say in the matter. Besides it's either this or fighting another battle like before."

Roxas shuddered, Tifa nodded. "That's what I thought."

"So when do we leave?" Zack asked.

"The King said he'd summon us when Cid has his machine ready." Sora supplied.

"Oh good, that will give Aerith some time to beat my head around."

Leon snorted. "Zack you know she wouldn't hurt a fly."

"True, but I'm not a fly, I'm a boyfriend and she will hurt those."

As it turned out they did have a while to wait, it took a week for Cid to make sure his airship was actually capable of getting in the air and in that time Aerith spent every waking moment telling Zack what an idiot he was and every sleeping moment in his arms whispering how much she loved him, in the end he claimed that it evened out. Sora and Roxas for their parts spent much of their time with Namine and Kairi respectively though frequently all four of them went out together. There was little threat from Heartless with the Grace system guarding the city added to the fact that the new ones that Xehanort couldn't be controlled once transported meant that things were actually pretty quiet.

When they were finally summoned it was to a very odd place, a cavern beneath and behind the castle. It was part of a cave system that Cid had expanded upon to provide himself a mooring spot for his airship, and in typical Cid fashion he'd been very secretive about the entire affair until the time seemed right to reveal it.

"Okay Cid, how did you keep this a secret?" Laguna asked, looking up at the airship.

"Oh it wasn't that hard. How many people go looking for giant caves under the castle?"

Ansem sighed as he looked at the cavern around them. "Remind me to have this filled in once this is over. I don't need the headache of worrying that someone might blast this out during a siege and drop the entire bastion into the earth."

Maleficent rumbled from the mouth of the cave, her voice gravelly as the shimmering green eyes of her dragon form bore through them all.

"I feel it demeaning enough to escort this fool's machine, do not force me to suffer longer than necessary."

Besides her Merlin's dragon form basked lazily in the morning light, enjoying the rest before the long flight ahead. Closer to the airship a silvered purple dragon nuzzled its giant head against Namine and Kairi.

"You'll do fine girls," it crooned gently.

They hugged Mim's head, barely able to reach around her muzzle and she smiled, the motion revealing rows of razor sharp teeth.  
"You'll do just fine; after all you have your knights with you." She said with a hint of amusement. She cast her steely gaze towards Roxas and Sora. "Bring them back to me boys; I couldn't stand to lose them."

Sora nodded, "we will, that's a promise!"

Roxas nodded agreement though he was much less enthusiastic, doubt still clawed at his mind; Mim eyed him in particular as she reared her head away from her granddaughters.

"For once boy, believe in something, whether it's yourself, your family, your friends…or the girl you love. Believe in something, it makes life so much easier."

With that she turned away, and joined the other two dragons. The trio spread their wings and leapt out of the cave mouth and vanished in the morning sunlight.

Riku came up besides the foursome. "Well let's go, if we're going to get ourselves killed might as well do it now."

They headed toward the lowered boarding ramp, and as they did so they passed another small gathering.

"You'd better come back in one piece you two." Laguna chided Cloud and Leon.

Leon nodded, holding Rinoa closely. "Don't worry old man; I've got more than enough reason to do that." He looked down at Rinoa, "here, for when I get back." Taking her hand he slid a small silver ring onto her finger, her eyes widened and she wordlessly threw her arms around him.

Laguna grunted his approval, turning to Cloud and Tifa eying the former with mock severity. "Well where's her ring?"

Tifa smiled at Cloud who looked thoroughly embarrassed that it hadn't occurred to him to do something like that.

She saved him from the trouble though, wrapping herself around his arm and kissing him on the cheek, he flushed bright red. "He's taking me on a dangerous mission, that's good enough."

Laguna snorted. "One of these days I'm going to wake up and realize I did something wrong with my first girl."

At the bottom of the boarding ramp Zack and Aerith stood quietly together, no one heard what they were saying but they were leaning very close together and whispering to one another. At the top of the ramp Cid stuck his head out and looked down.

"I ain't trying to run a love boat you know, lets get her in the air!"

Sora and Roxas hefted their packs, clambering the rest of the way up the ramp with Namine, Kairi, and Riku. The rest of their party came up behind them. They all followed Cid onto the spacious 'bridge'; everyone agreed that traditional ship nomenclature was easiest, Cid sat down in the captain's seat and began turning dials and flipping levers. There was a low rumble as the engines kicked in and the ship began to hum.

"Cid, I've been meaning to ask you." Zack said leaning over his shoulder. "What were you planning on using this thing for?"

He shrugged. "Cargo transport mostly, figured if we had a few of these things in the air running around the trade-lanes we could give our competitors a kick in the pants."

"Oh good, we're going into combat aboard a flying cargo hold." Zack said with a grin.

Cid returned the smile. "Aw have some faith boy, what do you think I spent this week doing? She ain't a cargo scow now, she's a fighting ship!"

The airship coughed and wheezed, then jumped as it lifted into the air. Cid guided her out into the morning light, to the left of the glass dome that wrapped the bridge, their three dragon escorts leapt into the air and flew alongside as the airship picked up speed and headed into the rising sun.


	27. Chapter 24

"Hey Leon?"

Leon stopped mid-swing, flipping his sword-caster up onto his shoulder as he turned to look at Sora. "Yeah what's up?"

"So you're really going to marry Rinoa?"

"Well I love her, that's good enough reason for me to propose don't you think?"

Sora shifted nervously, blushing, Leon snorted. "Kairi?" Leaning his weapon against the wall he wrapped Sora in a headlock and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry about it, you're still kids."

"You're not much older." Sora protested, squirming in his brother's grasp.

Leon shrugged, releasing him and smirking. "I suppose, but I wouldn't fret over it, you're only fifteen Sora, that's too young to be thinking of anything as involved as marriage; give it a few more years."

"There you are; why are you two down here?"

They turned to see Kairi coming towards them, Leon smirked. "Have a ring?" He whispered. Sora elbowed him in the ribs and Leon chuckled.

"We were just talking." Sora supplied.

"He just needed some brotherly advice. Anyways Zack is probably looking for me. He gets so commanding when we're on actually doing our jobs."

Leon picked up his weapon and holstered it, brushing past Kairi and climbing up the ladder to the next level of the airship, they could hear him walking overhead as his footsteps faded away.

Kairi smiled. "So what were you asking advice about?"

"N-nothing," Sora said a little too quickly.

She giggled and leaned over, kissing his cheek. "Well fine, be like that. You know Riku and the others are all up on the bridge watching the view while you and Leon were down here in dark. You should come up and see it."

"Alright, let's go."

They climbed up the same ladder Leon had, making their way up two more decks before they were on the crew level. Moving forwards through the whirring hull they emerged onto the brightly lit deck, everyone else was already there, Cloud was sitting against the glass of the bridge screen with Tifa sleeping against him, Riku stood with Zack and Leon, holding up one of Merlin's parachutes, Cid was at the helm and Roxas and Namine were looking out at the three dragons as they crisscrossed the airship's path ahead of them.

As Sora and Kairi joined them, Namine smiled. "Where was he?"

"Down in the hold with Leon." Kairi said.

Namine nodded. "Yep, that's Sora, he always did find dark places to explore."

"Hey! I haven't even explored half this ship, I haven't had the chance."

"Well you'd have plenty of time to do that if you'd stop standing up there gawking at the view." Chided Cid from behind them, sniffing he continued. "We still have a few hours before we hit Traverse Town anyways, you've got time."

Namine smiled. "No thanks, I like the view."

Cid snorted, "suit yourself."

Sora looked out at the three dragons, while Maleficent simply cruised along without any wasted movement, Mim darted this way and that playfully as she performed various acrobatics, Merlin was in between the two rising up above the airship and spiraling downwards again in a series of controlled falls.

"She's showing off." Namine said with a fond smile.

"What for?" Sora asked with a frown.

"I don't know the story really, just that she and Maleficent have something that goes back before any of us were born and I mean any of us. It was at least a century ago if not longer. They've been rivals ever since, she and Merlin seem to have a much friendlier relationship though she still enjoys competing against him."

Kairi frowned; Sora put an arm around her. "Are you okay?"

"It's just that, well until now I always thought Grandmother was normal, that we were all normal. And now, well…" She held up her hand and without a word a blue flame appeared in her palm and flickered there hovering in the air.

Sora and Roxas stared dumbstruck before Sora managed. "Wow."

"I don't even have to speak to summon magic, it just happens."

Namine nodded, holding her sister. "It's just a gift Kairi, like my dreams."

"I didn't want any of this to happen though; I didn't want to be anything special. I just," she looked over at Sora. "I just wanted to have my friends and family and live a normal life."

Roxas nodded quietly. "We all did, and look at it this way Kairi, at least you can use magic, I still can't unless I'm with Namine."

Namine smiled, taking his hand and squeezing, a reddish flame similar to Kairi's blue appeared over their joined palms. "You just don't believe in it enough without someone helping. Listen to Grandmother, just believe in something."

Roxas nodded again, sheepishly this time, Sora doubted Roxas would ever come to grips with the whole magic thing; it scared him too much. He was more concerned about Kairi though, he hugged her tightly.

"Everything will be fine Kairi, we'll reseal the heart and then go back to Hollow Bastion and everything will be back to normal."

"Will you and Roxas go back to Twilight?"

He frowned. "I hadn't thought of that."

Kairi couldn't help herself, she started laughing. "Of course not, you're such a goof." She kissed him gently on the lips and he returned the gesture, holding her closely.

Roxas and Namine exchanged a glance before turning their attention back to the view; she looped her arms around his and leaned against him.

"I'll be glad when this is all over, no matter what happens, so long as we're still together."

He nodded in silent agreement, watching the dragons again. He wondered what it would be like to fly under your own power; he would actually like to try it sometime.

"Hold on!" Cid yelled as he twisted the controls and banked the airship harshly on its side. Out of the bridge screen the Heartless that had been trying to ram them sped past with Maleficent spouting green flame in pursuit. Straight ahead Mim tore yet another flying Heartless to pieces, the sky had grown dark despite it being mid-day and it was teeming with angry Heartless.

Zack looked back at Cid. "How much farther till we're over the central plaza?"

"Just about there now," grunted Cid as he righted the airship's path.

"Well that'll have to do I guess if we stay up here any longer I think we'll just be causing trouble, more Heartless keep arriving."

The airship shook and Cid checked his dials, "we just lost another engine, suppose you're right, you'd better go now before she falls out of the air."

Zack nodded and turned to everyone else. "Alright, everyone to the cargo hold, make sure you have everything with you, the parachutes are already down there, move!"

Everyone hurried off the bridge, as Roxas passed by the captain's chair Cid grabbed his arm.

"Kid, I wanted you to know that I'm sorry for throwing you around after Rikku died. I know it wasn't your fault, I was just angry, she meant the world to me."

Roxas opened his mouth wordlessly, and then nodded grimly, Cid winked; it looked all too much like Rikku for Roxas' comfort. "Go kick their asses' kid, give them hell."

Roxas rushed off after everyone else, sliding down flights of ladders until he reached the cargo deck, it was a large space, and it could have easily fit one of the dragons, probably even two. Zack had everyone assembled at the far end of the deck where the large bay doors were located, Roxas hurried over and joined them, taking the chute that Riku handed him and sliding it over his shoulders. Zack was an entirely different person now; there was no humor in his expression as he checked each person's pack over meticulously.

"Alright, I don't know how accurately these things will dump us, but Merlin said we need to wait until we're clear of the downdraft caused by the airship's propellers, it's a like a ship's wake, it'll blow us all over the place if we open too soon. If we get separated during the fall then head towards the clock tower, it's the tallest building in Traverse so it shouldn't be too hard to find."

He reached over and threw a lever and the doors opened, a Heartless came screeching towards them, all teeth and wings, Leon's sword-caster was up and firing before it got close and it fell out of sight in a wailing inferno.

Zack blinked calmly. "Okay, that's that then, out we go."

He jumped first, not even pausing to look as he did so; Riku went next followed by Tifa and Cloud. Roxas looked at Leon, expecting him to go next.

Leon shook his head. "You guys go; I want to see where everyone lands in case I need to come find any of you."

Roxas swallowed, stepping up to the open doors, the wind whipping at his face, he looped over the lip of the edge and felt his head spin. This wasn't what he'd imagined it would be like; he jumped as a hand gripped his. He looked to see Namine smiling at him.

"We'll be fine, let's go."

He nodded, swallowing his fear and closing his eyes, they jumped together and the world seemed to fall away for a moment as they fell. He reached for the chord that controlled the chute and got ready to pull as he plummeted towards the rooftops and streets below.

Sora watched as Roxas fell from view, looking at Kairi with a strong smile before he took a running start and jumped; Kairi right besides him. He thought he heard Leon yell something like 'showoff' at him but he wasn't certain. They fell together for what seemed like a long time before Kairi reached for her chord, Sora took that as his cue and pulled his, the chute deployed and he was yanked upwards violently, Kairi's was deployed too but she was blown away from him and drifting further. He tried swinging towards her but it didn't seem to do anything.

"Kairi!" He called.

"I'm okay Sora, I see Riku, and we'll meet you at the clock!"

He nodded and looked down, the roof of the nearest building was slanted and he was coming in at an angle, he tried to brace himself for the impact but it had very little effect as he collided with the shingles and began rolling towards the edge, trying desperately to grasp something to keep from falling off the roof. He reached the edge and felt his legs and waist slide over the edge, he started to scream as he felt the rest of him following suit and slipping over the chasm, then someone grabbed his hand.

"Gotcha!"

Zack pulled him back up onto the rooftop, smiling jovially. "That was close."

Sora pulled the now useless pack off and panted heavily, he didn't want to do that again, Zack patted him on the back as they sat together on the roof, "you alright?"

Sora nodded, smiling. "Thanks."

"Uh oh, company."

He followed Zack's gaze and saw the Heartless scrambling towards them, he reached out and his keyblade snapped into being.

Zack stood smiling, "nice trick." He reached up behind him and drew the large sword he wore on his back. "Let's see, there are five of them and two of us, they're dead." Then eight more appeared and joined the first five, Zack frowned. "Well that's not fair."

There was a thud and they turned to see Leon landing on the opposite roof, Zack peered over the edge of the building with a curious expression on his face, he looked over at Leon as the Heartless continued to advance.

"Leon!"

Leon looked up, kneeling with his caster already drawn; Zack grabbed Sora by the back of his armor.

"Catch!"

Sora barely had a chance to realize what was going on as Zack threw him across the gap between the buildings, though he did have a chance to cry out in terror as he sailed over the street. Then Leon had him and they rolled together across the roof, Leon picked him off the ground and smirked.

"He threw me!" Sora cried his voice indignant.

"Yes, it was all very exciting, want to go to the zoo next?"

Sora punched Leon in the arm. "We have to help him!"

"He'll be fine, trust me, let's get going."

They got up and started running across the rooftops, occasionally having to jump from one to the other but thankfully nothing like what Zack did. When they reached the clock tower Cloud, Tifa, Roxas and Namine were already there.

"Where's Zack?" Cloud asked.

"He made some new friends, should be here soon enough."

"Did you have much trouble?" Tifa said, looking down at Sora who was breathing heavily.

"Not really, it was pretty quiet aside from Zack's buddies."

"What about Riku and Kairi?" Sora managed as he caught his breath.

"Haven't seen them yet," Cloud said, he sounded a bit on edge.

"Then we'd better go find them."

They turned to see Zack coming around the corner, there was a fresh cut above his left eye though it wasn't bleeding that badly.

"Nice throw." Leon said, smirking.

"Nice catch." Zack returned.

"Don't throw me again!" Sora yelled.

Zack and Leon both started laughing while everyone else looked very confused.

"Alright, let's go get them," Zack said, shouldering his weapon. "I'm sure they know what we're doing by now, and I doubt Riku and Kairi are late intentionally."

There was a flash down an adjoining alley as a brilliant spout of light shot into the darkened sky. Zack considered the sight for a moment before shrugging.

"Well I guess that solves that problem, let's save them."


	28. Chapter 25

Everything had been going so well, Roxas thought to himself as he spun through several Heartless, coming out the other side of that group only to find himself faced with another pack of angry, and in some cases armored hissing and slashing Heartless. Cloud had caught it of all people; that it was going too easily. When they'd found Riku and Kairi the Heartless had fallen back as if afraid, they'd moved back into the shadow the clock tower to come up with a plan only to be met with dozens of fresh Heartless coming at them from all sides, even above as they flew, or in many cases simply jumped off buildings, to land in the midst of their prey. He felt they were lucky no one had been killed.

"Roxas!" He turned to see Leon jump atop of a large rhino-like Heartless and fire into its head before landing besides him. "Don't get too far away from everyone else or we can't help one another."

Together they pushed back towards the rest of the group, Leon cycling through various spell types on his sword-caster while Roxas slashed at anything that got too close. They reached the group, Roxas saw Tifa punching her latest victim, lighting coursing over the Heartless with each strike she landed with her gloves or boots, Cloud and Zack where besides her with their giant blades swinging them deftly about and clearing swathes of Heartless from their path, Roxas was still unsure how they ever learned how to use something that looked so unwieldy.

"How is our little hellcat?" Zack called.

"He's fine, just ran off for a moment." Leon responded, firing from the hip.

Roxas flushed, Zack had started calling him when he'd seen Roxas fighting two handed and wildly in the middle of all the Heartless when the ambush had first been sprung. Namine, Sora and Kairi were beyond the adults fighting in a tight bunch blasting everything in sight with magic, Roxas wished he could do the same with as much ease as they seemed to have. Granted he made up for it he found with the twin blades, maybe that was why he'd been given two when everyone else had a single keyblade. It made sense.

"Hey, I don't see Riku."

Zack looked around. "Where the hell did he go now, Tifa!"

She sent her opponent flying with a roundhouse kick and leapt upwards, scrambling up the nearest wall and perching atop an overhang and looked around. Roxas tried to keep an eye on her as she searched the melee below, worrying for her safety so far from the rest of them. There was a glint of silver and his head spun, that was a new Heartless, it carried what looked like a crossbow instead of arms, and it was aiming at Tifa. He threw one of his blades and it wind-milled up towards the Heartless, it looked down in time to see the keyblade though and moved, the keyblade soared past and it fired, the keyblade whipped back around and took the Heartless' head off but the bolt was already in the air.

"Tifa!" He screamed.

She looked his way frowning, her eyes widened as the bolt caught her in the chest and she was thrown back against the building. She began what seemed like a slow motion rag doll fall from her perch, to Roxas' horrified gaze it seemed like she hit everything she could conceivably hit on the way down. Cloud was there to catch her though, she reached up, smiling weakly at him.

"Zack, we need to get her somewhere safe!"

Zack glared at Cloud. "I'm open to suggestions."

"Oblivion," Leon called.

"We need all four of us; it might kill Tifa in her state." Zack said, shaking his head as he cut through another Heartless.

"We can help!" Namine cried, "let us cast with you, we've seen the spell."

The three standing adults shot each other dubious glances before Zack nodded.

"Let's send them to hell, Sora and Roxas give us some cover."

Sora reached for Roxas' hand. "I have an idea, but I need you too. Can you cast something basic?"

Roxas opened his mouth to protest but then just nodded. The pair stood together, hands clasped as the Heartless reformed for another attack.

"Okay," Sora said, he sounded nervous, Roxas swallowed. "I need you to be a battery okay? I can't maintain this unless you keep pouring energy into me."

Roxas looked at Sora, understanding what he wanting but unsure how he could help.

Sora smiled, "here goes, thunder!"

Electricity fired from the sky, cascading in a wall to slam into the Heartless advancing on them, they began spasming and twitching as the energy coursed over them and threw them back. Roxas felt his own energy bleeding through his hand into Sora. Had Sora known that this would happen or was this just his luck at work? It didn't matter; it was buying them the time they needed. Then he heard screaming, at first he thought it was the Heartless but then he looked at Sora and saw his eyes, ears, and mouth glowing with light and energy coursing over his body. He was overloading somehow.

Roxas let go of him, wrapping his arms around his cousin, feeling the energy assault him as well, it hurt but he clenched his teeth and tried to suck up the excess charge from Sora. The pair collapsed, Sora was unconscious, his skin and clothes burned.

"Zack!" Roxas screamed.

"Oblivion!"

Came the answer to his call and the same white energy charge that had shattered the Heartless at the gorge surged over them, searing Sora and himself, before striking Heartless now though on a much smaller scale. It was enough though, the Heartless were inundated by the wave of destruction and thrown back against walls, lamp posts and vanished. When the energy settled the group stood there, Tifa bleeding from her chest wound and panting heavily as she tried to stand, Roxas holding Sora's unconscious and burned body, there wasn't a single Heartless in sight.

"We need to get inside." Zack said grimly.

"You can't sedate me, we're in a combat zone, just take it out and heal me." Came Tifa's irate voice.

"I'm not going to rip it out of your chest and hope you don't bleed to death Tifa." Zack returned calmly.

"Screw that!" Tifa spat. "This won't kill me, but it might kill all of us if you don't take it out."

"She's right Zack, we need her on her feet and she can't move with that thing in her chest." Leon said.

"Okay fine, here goes nothing." Zack said with a resigned tone.

Tifa's scream brought Sora out of his sleep, his head snapped around to see Tifa writhing in agony on the bed besides him as Leon and Cloud held her on her side as Zack pushed something through her back. Sora watched in horrified fascination as the barbed tip of the bolt pushed out through Tifa's back, blood dripping onto the bed between them. When it was far enough through Zack grabbed the barbed end and pulled, Tifa screamed again as he got the shaft clear and tossed the bolt aside.

"Give her a potion and patch it up; we don't have the time or energy to waste on a healing spell."

Cloud looked like he wanted to protest but Leon put a hand on his shoulder, Tifa had curled up in a fetal position and she was clutching her chest. Sora could only imagine what she must be feeling. Cloud knelt besides her, gripping her hand tightly and whispering to her as he fed her a potion, Sora watched as the wound on her back began to sizzle as the liquid found its way to her wounds and stopped the bleeding. Leon rolled her onto her back and unzipped the top of her armor, pulling it open. Sora flushed bright red as Tifa's bra was fully exposed now and he looked away as Leon bent over her with a needle and thread.

"You're awake," Zack said, Sora turned to face him as the older man knelt besides him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "That was pretty impressive back there; you used Roxas as a sink to draw up enough power to keep them off us, haven't seen anyone do that before."

There was a new respect in his eyes, Sora nodded a thank you. "What happened?"

"I think we scared them off, we're holed up in the hotel across from the clock tower. We were going to work on Tifa first but she insisted we make sure you were alright before we did anything with her."

"Uh, thanks." Sora said sheepishly.

Zack shrugged. "Namine, Roxas, and Kairi are looking for Riku. Normally I wouldn't let kids go out on their own like that; but I couldn't have the three people who actually know how to heal go when I had you half dead and Tifa bleeding out."

Sora felt a little angry that Zack _had _sent the others out to search for Riku, but worry for Riku overlaid that anger somewhat. The door to the room they were in opened and the group in question entered, with Riku.

Zack surged to his feet, slamming Riku into the wall. "Where the hell were you?"

"I found a way down into the underground," was Riku's terse reply.

Zack let him down, glaring. "Good, don't go off on your own again."

He turned back to Tifa, who was now on her back, still topless as Leon stitched the otherside of the hole. "How is she?"

Cloud looked like he'd aged ten years. "Nothing serious was punctured, she got lucky, the potion is doing its job and with the stitches she'll be able to move."

Zack nodded, griping Cloud's shoulder sympathy written on his features. "I'm sorry Cloud; I can't do more than this."

Cloud nodded his voice hard "We're soldiers, we know the rules."

Zack winced at the tone, but nodded his understanding; Sora imagined that to be fair, he'd react similarly if that was Kairi being denied healing magic instead of Tifa.

Sora sat up, looking at Riku. "Why did you leave in the middle of the fighting like that?"

Riku merely shrugged. "We had to find a way down, the Heartless were paying attention to all of you so I took the chance to go find us a way underground."

Sora frowned. "You could have helped us."

Riku snorted. "You handled yourselves, and now we can find Xehanort."

"I guess, I sti—"

"Don't bother Sora." Roxas said. "He's just being a hotshot."

Roxas and Riku exchanged glances, Kairi stepped in between them. "Okay, that's enough, come on we're supposed to help each other."

Both boys nodded, Cloud was helping Tifa stand, she was smiling heartily despite the hole in her armor.

"What's next?"

"Riku found a way down, from what we heard of the attack here it's pretty certain that Xehanort is beneath the town so we need to get down there as well."

Tifa nodded, taking a hand and turning Cloud's face to her she kissed him passionately, and everyone else in the room just stared, and then looked away as the kiss lingered for over a minute.

She smiled at Cloud's surprised face when she finally broke the kiss. "For luck and in case I don't get the chance to do that again."

Cloud's lips formed a grim line. "You'll get the chance."

Zack snorted. "Now I know why I'm glad Aerith isn't in the military. Let's go."

Riku led them out behind the hotel; there was a small canal that passed there before heading underground.

Leon frowned at the raised grate.

"Does this look like a trap to anyone else?"

"I checked inside." Riku said his annoyance evident.

Zack and Leon exchanged glances. "Check it." Zack said.

Leon moved forwards slowly, Tifa besides him, she was moving very well for someone with a hole in her chest. They dropped into the waist high water and began moving forwards towards the darkened opening, Tifa raised her hand as they passed beneath the grate and a blue flame appeared in her palm. She held it aloft and looked around them before turning back.

"I don't see anything, I think we're good."

They all moved into the water and through the grate, Zack was last and as he passed under the grate it slammed down, he barely managed to jump out of the way. Scrambling to his feet he tried to lift it but nothing happened. Leon and Cloud moved to help but they produced the same result.

Zack sighed. "You ever get the feeling that you're right where someone wants you?"

Riku smiled nervously. "It didn't do that before."

Tifa had moved ahead, and now called back to them. "I found a pathway."

They followed the glow from her flame, there was a pathway and it led downwards, a lip kept water from flowing over the stairs.

"I don't like this." Kairi murmured.

"What's to like." Zack responded.

He went first; climbing up on the stair and helping the others get over the lip. They began their descent, Tifa leading with her light, with Namine and Kairi in the middle with lights of their own. Leon brought up the rear, his caster drawn as he watched their backs.

"Does anyone else here a clicking sound?" Roxas asked.

Everyone paused and listened, there was an audible click-click now that they were listening for it. They searched in the gloom but there wasn't anything to be seen, then the stair gave way and the lights went out. Everyone yelled or screamed and it was nearly impossible to tell who was who in the blackness. Roxas fell for what felt like hours until he hit something solid, twisting and coming to stop with a groan, holding his stomach where he'd hit the wall.

"Hello?" He called quietly.

"Roxas?" Came Namine's voice.

"Can you give us light?"

The blue flame appeared again and he moved towards it, he found Namine sprawled on the floor; one of her legs was out at an odd angle.

He knelt next to her. "Can you walk?"

She shook her head; he reached under her as she looped her arm around his neck. Looking around he spied an archway in the dark. He sighed and looked at Nanime.

"I hate this, we're being herded."

She nodded agreement. "Do you think the others are okay?"

"I hope so, because I think its everyone for themselves."


	29. Chapter 26

"Ow…." Sora rolled over in the dimly lit room.

"Sora?"

"Leon?"

"Yeah, I'm here, you okay?"

Sora picked himself up, his head spinning. "I think I hit my head on something."

"Yeah, me," Sora looked around to see Riku getting to his feet and rubbing his own head.

"Three of us," Leon said, looking up towards where the ceiling should have been, it wasn't of course. "I hope everyone else is alright."

"There's a door." Riku pointed towards one wall.

Leon sighed. "Xehanort is screwing with us. His Heartless couldn't kill us, so now he's just having fun."

"Well let's go get him!" Sora said, striding towards the door.

Leon and Riku exchanged glances and moved after him.

"He hasn't changed at all." Riku said, shaking his head.

"Did you expect him to?" Leon asked with a slight smile.

"Well, yeah, I thought he'd grow up."

Leon snorted, "Right, Sora grow up."

"Hey are you calling me immature?"

Riku smiled at him. "Well you've _kissed_ Kairi but what else have you done?"

Sora turned red and looked away, Leon raised an eyebrow. "You haven't done anything else with Kairi have you?"

"N-no! Of course not, remember what you said about being too young? Don't you think that applies here too?"

Leon blinked, a slow smile creeping across his face. "Maybe, maybe not."

Sora scowled and continued moving through the hallway they found themselves in. There were pipes lining the walls and the hiss of steam could be heard all around them, the air was heavy and moist and soon they were all covered in sweat.

"For a change I actually don't like having my uniform." Leon said, unfastening the top of his leather armor.

They continued moving through the labyrinth of pipes sometimes they saw shapes moving beyond the pipes and Sora was certain that not all the hisses were from the steam but no Heartless came to face them as they moved through the gloom. Finally they came upon some kind of junction where several like pathways met.

Leon looked around at the other passages. "They all look the same."

Grates slammed into place over all of the doorways and Leon sighed. "They still look the same."

Heartless began spawning around them, big, armored, and armed Heartless. The trio backed into the center of the room, two keyblades snapped into being as Leon drew his sword-caster. The Heartless danced back and forth, hissing and cackling maniacally as they circled. Leon scowled and fired a shot into the faceplate of a larger Heartless; its head flew off in a burst of shadows. The headless body reached up curiously, feeling for its head before it fell over. The other Heartless froze and seemed to stare at their fallen comrade for a moment before howling angrily and rushing forwards. Sora swung, taking three down in one movement and then turned towards the next Heartless.

"More of them," Riku called, and indeed more had appeared.

Leon raised his hand. "Wind Cutter," what felt like a strong wind whipped around them and several Heartless were cut to ribbons, Leon finished the survivors of the attack with his caster shots. Still it wasn't enough as even more enemies poured out of the pipes around them.

"How many are there?" Sora shouted as he hacked another Heartless to pieces.

"Sora!" He heard Riku shout, he turned to see a Heartless with a blade on its arm swinging towards him, it seemed to happen in slow motion as he turned to try to block and realized he couldn't get the keyblade there in time. Almost lazily he looked for Leon but didn't see his brother; his view was blocked by the Heartless swinging for him. Then someone pushed him, and he fell back, his eyes widened as Riku stood over him, was he smiling? Then his eyes widened and a red mist burst from his chest as the blade found its way through him and he was lifted off floor and tossed away into the piping on the wall. It all happened so slowly, as it sank in Sora felt rage welling up inside him as the Heartless loomed over him. Then the Heartless erupted in a mass of black shadow, he could hear Leon's shouts but didn't understand what he was saying over the rapid fire of his caster.

The rage in Sora kept building as he picked himself up, he couldn't contain himself as he screamed, energy pulsed out from him, he saw Leon's eyes widen and watched his brother dig his blade into the ground. Whatever control he'd had was gone and he felt power course through every bone in his body, the world suddenly seemed to stop moving, he looked down, his keyblade was gone and his hands were covered in something black and mist like. He knew somehow what he could do with them, screaming in rage he ran at the remaining Heartless who seemed baffled and terrified by his coming. He howled as he tore them to ribbons, they fled from him but none of them moved fast enough for it to matter. They were so pathetic, they were barely worth his time but he wanted to tear them to pieces anyways, it was _fun._

Suddenly he was out of targets and he looked around trying to find a new one, then arms wrapped around him, he hissed just like a Heartless and whirled slashing. Then his eyes found focus and he saw Leon staring at him in surprise, his armor's front had claw marks torn into it as he fell back.

He blinked, shaking his rage from his head as horror replaced it. "Leon!" He cried in anguish as he came back to himself. Leon was there again, holding him tightly as the shadow receded from his body and he began trembling uncontrollably.

"Shhh, it's alright, I'm fine, you missed me. Shhh everything will be alright."

Sora couldn't stop trembling, what had just happened to him? He'd nearly killed Leon, if he'd been taller that could have been Leon's head, not his armor.

His head snapped up. "Riku!"

Pulling free of Leon he ran over towards Riku's limp form, rolling over his friend and cradling his head in his arms.

Riku smiled up at him, blood trickling from his mouth. "You….got lost….didn't you…."

"Lost?" Sora asked, baffled as tears clouded his vision, the wound was too big he'd come to understand battlefield medication enough in the past several days to know that neither he or Leon could save Riku.

Riku nodded. "I…did too…after I beca—" he coughed and blood spattered on Sora's face. "A bearer….when I first….got the key," his speech was labored and Sora could feel his blood pouring out of the wound in Riku's back into his lap and then onto the floor.

Riku swallowed, trying to continue. "Your…heart is consumed…..by emotion….and for a moment you…..are a Heartless." He took several large draws of breath, his smile returning.

Sora was starting to cry, tears blurring his vision. "Why did you save me?"

"Kairi….been….lonely."

"Idiot," he yelled at Riku, unsure if he was angry at himself or at Riku.

Riku nodded, licking his lips. "I—I think…I know….why Roxas has….tw—"

He didn't finish the last word, he just stopped speaking, his mouth forming the syllables but unmoving, his eyes stared unseeingly up at Sora as his chest fell one last time in a rattling convulsion. Then there was nothing. Sora looked up at Leon.

"He's—"

Leon wrapped his arms around his brother, pulling him away from Riku's staring corpse as Sora curled up in Leon's arms. He felt like a child, alone and frightened the only thing that seemed secure was his brother's arms and he clung to Leon tightly. The gates around them rose and Leon looked up to see Roxas, carrying Namine come through one of them. Another produced a bruised and battered Cid being supported by Cloud and Tifa with Kairi in tow. Everyone froze when they saw Riku's body.

"Oh no," Roxas murmured, Namine buried her face in his chest, silently crying as he knelt with her.

"This is bad," Zack murmured, for once sounding like they were beaten. "We can't do this with just four bearers."

Leon looked at Sora gently, then up at Zack. "Riku said that Roxas had two for a reason."

Zack's face was grim. "Then let's hope he's right."

Kairi approached Sora cautiously, Leon let him go and Cloud's eyes widened.

"Leon your armor."

"It's nothing, it didn't penetrate."

Kairi tried to comfort Sora but he pulled away. "It's my fault, he was protecting me."

"I'm sorry Sora, please don't blame yourself."

He didn't hear her, or else ignored her. In either case he moved further away, his expression stunned.

Zack looked at Namine, leaning against Roxas. "Hurt her leg?"

Roxas nodded quietly, staring at Riku's body silently. "It's just like that picture." He whispered to no one in particular, Namine nodded as if in agreement and everyone looked confusedly at the pair.

"We need to keep mov—"

Zack didn't finish, the floor shuddered. "Oh not again," groaned Cloud.

But the floor didn't give way, instead shadows engulfed them all, Kairi screamed, Namine clung to Roxas who tried to grab onto a pipe but was ripped away. Sora watched in terror as he and the other three began to sink, Leon grabbed his hand pulling with all his might as Sora was sucked downwards but his brother's fingers just slipped through his grasp and into the shadow enshrouded floor. The four Elites stood there in the room with Riku's corpse, the floor was normal again and there was no trace of the bearers.

"We are so dead." Zack said to no one in particular as the doors were sealed off again and the chattering hisses of the Heartless could be heard growing louder and closer all around them.

Roxas picked himself up, he couldn't see anything, but he could feel Namine, still holding onto his hand tightly.

"Can you give us light?"

"I am." She whispered.

He blinked, wondering if his eyes were closed. "I don't see anything."

"I know, but I am casting the spell." She said, "it just…isn't lighting anything."

"Sora!" Roxas called into the pitch black.

"He's here," came Kairi's voice from somewhere nearby. "But he isn't speaking at all, he's just shaking."

"You children honestly thought you could stop me, how quaint."

The voice was not one he recognized, "who are you?"

"I am the architect of your demise of course, and the demise of that fool Ansem."

"Xehanort." Namine spat venomously, Roxas had never heard her sound so hateful before.

"Very good, now you'll excuse me I'm sure if I just leave you to wallow in shadow while I kill your companions. They seem a tad more dangerous than you little fools."

"Xehanort!" Roxas yelled, but he got no answer, he pounded his fist into the ground. "Kairi, keep talking, Namine and I will crawl to you."

"Okay, I can hear you too, just keep coming."

Roxas and Namine moved slowly towards Kairi's voice, they found her and Sora who was still silent. Roxas reached over and touched his shoulder.

"Sora?"

Sora shuddered in response to the touch, Roxas wrapped his arms around his cousin, he felt Namine and Kairi pressing in around him. None of them had any idea what they were going to, and Zack, Cloud, Tifa, and Leon were apparently about to be attacked by Xehanort, it seemed hopeless. There was a flash, it was strange because it wasn't light, it was like a shadow in the darkness. It looked like a living pillar of shadow had appeared. Roxas wondered if this was what Xehanort was going to use to kill them, and reached out, feeling his keyblades appear in his hands, though they didn't cast the light they typically did.

"Put those away boy, they can't do anything here." Came a gruff voice, and he saw a shape step out of the shadow, the shape vanished as the shadow did, but he could hear booted footsteps coming towards him.

"Stay back!" He said, swinging the keyblades wildly in the dark. The boots stopped, and for a moment he thought he'd scared their owner, but then he felt something grab a keyblade and jerk the weapon aside.

"You, Namine, let me see your leg." The voice said again.

There was another flash, this time it was a light and he saw a hand illuminated against Namine's leg she winced like she was in pain but she didn't cry out. The light faded and they were plunged in shadow again.

"Try to stand."

Roxas couldn't see Namine but he heard her shuffling.

"Does it still hurt?"

"No," she said, she sounded amazed. "What did you do?"

"Stupid question, I healed you. Come on, follow me."

"Wait!" Kairi called, "where are you taking him?"

Roxas realized that the owner of the voice must have taken Sora.

"I'm taking the five of you out of here."

"There are four of us." Namine said quietly.

There was a long pause before the voice spoke again. "Do you remember your friend? Does he have a place in your hearts?"

"Of course he does, he'll always have a place."

"Good, then let's go."

Another pillar of shadow appeared and the figure was silhouetted against it again, this time carrying Sora.

"Do we trust him?" Roxas asked nervously.

"I think," Namine said, though she sounded far from certain. "I recognize his voice."

"Me too," Kairi said, Roxas could imagine the frown that must be on her face. "But I don't know where I've heard it before."

"So we trust him?"

Both girls took his hand and he followed them towards the writhing pillar of shadow and their apparent savior.


	30. Chapter 27

Roxas stepped through the shadow and into a blinding light; he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. The girls were besides him and the three of them looked around them, they were in, well honestly he didn't know where they were. It was featureless light; there were what seemed like waves of mist moving around them in swirling patterns but other than that there was nothing, no sky, no ground, no horizon; nothing. A man knelt besides Sora, he wore a heavy ret coat and he had dark brown hair, there was a sword slung over one shoulder. He was whispering something to Sora who was staring at the man in shock.

Roxas looked at Namine and Kairi, and realized they were staring at the man as well. "Who is he?"

"I think…he's Sora's father, but he's…dead…I think?"

Namine nodded agreement; she looked just as baffled as Kairi sounded. Sora suddenly threw his arms around the man's neck and began sobbing. For a moment the man paused, then put his arms around Sora and held him close, he stood, taking Sora up with him in his arms and turned to face them. He eyed Roxas for a moment, and Roxas saw the same blue eyes as Sora's staring at him from a much older face. Was this Sora's father? He'd never met his uncle, and he didn't really remember the photos of him around the house well enough to be certain.

"You're Tara's boy, Roxas." Roxas nodded, the man considered. "Then the blonde with Leon was Cloud. I'm glad the boys found family."

"You are Sora's father!" Kairi exclaimed.

He blinked and smiled, it was Leon's smile. "Yes, I doubt you remember me Kairi, the last time I saw you I think you were seven."

"I remember you," Namine said quietly. "You used to throw Leon out into the waves and then go chase him down with Sora on your shoulders."

"Impressive memory," Sora's father said with a smile, he looked down at Sora. "Sora's not all back yet, he's recovering."

"Recovering?" Kairi said worriedly, Roxas was worried too but he was just going to wait.

Auron shrugged. "He was shadow lost for a moment, he nearly killed Leon and now he's coming out of it. Think of it like the crash after pulling an all night on nothing but caffeine."

"Wait he nearly killed Leon?"

Auron blinked, scowling at the question. "Don't make me repeat myself boy."

Roxas looked at Sora, no wonder he was acting like a vegetable. Riku had died in front of him apparently, and now he'd also tried to kill Leon when…what on earth was shadow lost?

His uncle seemed to see the question. "Shadow lost is when your heart loses hope and is overwhelmed by your emotions. It can happen to anyone, but especially to those with a close affinity with the world's heart. Like you bearers. When it happens you begin to become a Heartless, and if you're not brought back it can become permanent. Sora was lucky that Leon was there."

"Where are we now?" Namine asked.

Auron smiled. "Can't you feel it?"

Kairi's eyes brightened in comprehension. "We're inside the world's heart?"

"Close, but not quite," Auron said. "Think of this like an artery or vein, we're safe here from the Heartless and Xehanort, and we can even get to the world's heart from here, which is what we'll be doing shortly."

"Wait, you're taking us directly to the heart?" Roxas said, "just like that?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes there is, this seems too easy."

Auron snorted. "That's because it is, Xehanort will realize what we're doing as soon as we arrive and will try to kill you. That's why I'm going with you, he won't be expecting me."

"Why not, haven't you been here all along?" Namine asked.

"Because he's already killed me," Auron said deadpan.

"What?" Sora finally spoke, looking up at his father in confusion.

Auron's face softened. "Welcome back," he suddenly looked very pained as he let Sora down. "Remember when I left you and your mother?"

Sora nodded. "She was crying when you walked out the door, I remember Leon yelling how much he hated you."

Auron nodded his expression saddening. "Yes, I was doing a favor for the King; we'd known each other as boys when we'd studied together. He asked me to keep an eye on Xehanort, I'm sorry to say I didn't realize what was happening until after he'd already trapped me. When I tried to resist, he killed me."

"But," Sora reached out a hand, touching his father's face lightly. "You're right here."

"Yes, let me finish." Auron sounded so gentle when he was talking to Sora, it was almost like an entirely different person. "This world's heart showed me something when I died, outcomes for Xehanort's plans. If I stayed in limbo, trapped inside the world's heart like I have been, then I would have a chance to redeem myself and improve the chances that you would succeed in resealing the heart. So I chose to wait here, all these years, for you to come to me, and now that you're here we're going to stop Xehanort."

"But, Dad, you're alive talking to us, you can't be dead." Sora almost sounded desperate. Roxas couldn't really fault him, he tried to imagine if it were his father talking to him like this and knew he'd be just as pained.

"It's too hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it, and we don't have the time either. Come on, all of you."

Auron reached out his hand and another pillar of shadows appeared, he gestured for them to move through it. "This will take us where we need to go, hurry before Xehanort feels it."

They all moved through without question, and came out in a large chamber with a raised dais before them that had a glowing portal sitting atop it, flashing every color conceivable. The same piping that they had seen before ran all around them, hissing with pressurized steam. Auron strode quickly up the dais and stood before the portal, raising his hand to it. Tendrils of light shot from his fingers and pierced the portal.

"Quickly," then he turned, closing his fist and the portal with it. "We're not alone."

Roxas turned with Sora and the girls to see Heartless coming towards them, these looked like much more dangerous Heartless somehow, they were not just black shadows, they had white streaks in them and they seemed almost human in their movements, there was hardly a trace of the animalistic nature that most Heartless displayed.

Auron stepped past them, throwing his coat off and drawing his sword with a grim smile. "You lot again, you beat me last time, but I'm a little different now."

He didn't break his gaze with the Heartless as he spoke to them, "you four, use your keyblades, open that portal and go through. I'll make sure you are not followed."

"What about the fifth bearer?" Roxas asked, edging towards the portal, keeping one eye on the approaching Heartless.

"Trust your heart boy; it will take care of everything."

Sora was already pointing his keyblade at the portal, Namine and Kairi joined him, Roxas snapped his two blades up and the same light that had come from Auron's fingertips shot from the tips of their weapons and into the portal. It began to shimmer, the colors solidifying, behind him he heard the Heartless screech and heard the sound of metal grating on metal but didn't look as the portal stopped flashing its rainbow of colors and turned into a doorway of pure light. Namine and Kairi went through first, Roxas turned to grab Sora.

"Come on."

"But Dad's—"

"Sora he said you had to do this, come on!"

Roxas pulled Sora through with him, the girls were already standing the white room, there was no exit it seemed, the portal was not behind them, and above them there was a keyhole, a giant keyhole outlined in shimmering gold light.

"I think," Namine said, pointing at the ground. "We have to stand on these pads."

She and Kairi both stood on one, drawing their keyblades, Sora and Roxas each took another; they pointed their keys up at the keyhole. Nothing happened, what was going on?

"Roxas, your other keyblade, put it on the last pad." Sora said suddenly.

Roxas nodded, moving over to the last pad and placing his keyblade down on it gently before returning to his own pad.

"Okay," Sora said, he sounded very confident suddenly, he was staring at the last pad expectantly; "again."

They all pointed upwards again, there was a rumbling and Roxas nearly fell as his pad rose up from the floor. The others were all doing the same.

"Riku!"

Roxas head snapped around at Kairi's cry, Riku was standing there holding Roxas' second blade, smiling confidently.

"I told you there was a reason he had two." He said smugly.

Sora nodded, and looked up at the keyhole; light was shining through it now as the five of them continued to rise up towards it, Roxas smiled. It was going to work, he could feel it.

"No! Damn you bearers, you will not steal this from me!"

"Sora!"

Xehanort stood there atop Sora's pillar holding him up by the throat, slowly squeezing the life out of him.

Sora reached out a hand. "Don—don't move—it wi—will ruin everything." He gasped.

Roxas couldn't just stand there though, he had to move.

"Don't!" Shouted another voice, a flash of red and black tore across the white room and Xehanort howled in agony as his arm was severed from his shoulder; the flash of red and black came back and Xehanort went flying, Sora grabbed his keyblade hurriedly and pointed it back towards the keyhole. Roxas stole a look and saw Xehanort floating in the air, with Auron standing between him and the rising pedestals.

"You, I killed you." Xehanort said his voice shocked and angry.

"Keep your hands off my son." Auron growled, he was floating too but at this point Roxas didn't think anything would shock him.

"Die phantom!" Xehanort screamed, shadowy tendril shot from his good arm and engulfed Auron, Roxas was certain that his uncle had just died again, but then something passed through Xehanort's back. He looked stunned, the shadow's dissipated and revealed Auron floating directly in front of Xehanort, a cold smile on his face as his sword rested between his opponent's shoulder blades.

"You killed me once, you're a fool if you think I'd let it happen again, especially with my son at stake."

Xehanort tried to grab Auron but he spun, delivering a shattering kick to Xehanort's jaw, sending him falling to the ground that Roxas only now realized was so far beneath them. Had they really been raised that far?

Auron looked up at the five of them. "Seal the damned thing, and let's go home."

Roxas felt a wind picking up around them, he closed his eyes against the sudden gust, and he felt the keyblade shuddering in his grasp. He opened his eyes to see a light fire from its tip that was joined in the center of the pillars by the other four beams from Sora, Namine, Riku, and Kairi. The beams combined and shot straight upwards into the keyhole. The room began to shudder, then there was an impossibly loud click, the wind began to die down. Then the room was plunged into darkness, Roxas cried out but no sound came out, then there was another click, and a pillar of light engulfed him, four more snaps revealed the others. There was a pause, and a sixth light illuminated Auron, he was smiling.

"Well, hang on everyone."

Roxas wasn't sure what they were supposed to hang onto, but a moment later he felt his body begin to rise, the others were doing the same. Then there was a blinding flash and he lost consciousness.

"Where are we?"

"You're outside, and the heart is sealed." Auron answered Sora's question.

"We did it?" Roxas asked disbelievingly.

"Of course we did it." Riku said with a grin, Roxas blinked and looked at him uncertainly.

"Are you—"

"Alive and well, thanks for keeping me in your hearts."

Auron snorted. "You took a big risk kid."

Riku smiled and shrugged. "I didn't know if it would work or not, but if one of us had to die I didn't want it to be Sora."

Auron nodded, "well it worked out. Leon and the others should be here shortly I—"

He stopped suddenly and looked down, a sad smile appearing on his face. Roxas followed his gaze and his eyes widened, holes of light were appearing in Auron's body, and they were growing larger.

"Dad," Sora cried desperately, running to his father and wrapping his arms around him. Auron patted his head gently.

"Now don't start crying, I suspected this was going to happen when the heart was sealed."

"But, Leon—"

"Will understand, besides I don't think he ever forgave me for leaving your mother."

Auron knelt in front of Sora, there were tears in his eyes but he looked proud as he continued to fade away.

"I'm very proud of you Sora, and Leon, make sure he knows that. I'll tell your mother how much you've grown kiddo, I lov—"

He didn't get to finish as the last of his face faded away into nothingness and he vanished entirely, leaving Sora clutching an empty red coat.

Kairi went to him and wrapped her arms around him, he began crying and held her tightly, Riku too went to Sora's side as well and tried to comfort him. Namine and Roxas stood together; she was looking at Riku with a smile. He looked at her suspiciously. When they spoke it was in a whisper.

"Did you know he wouldn't die?"

"I knew he'd save Sora's life."

"You let me think that he was going to die." Roxas said accusingly.

She smiled at him fondly. "What would you have done if I'd told you everything?"

"I—I…." He trailed off, he didn't have an answer.

She leaned over and kissed him, smiling as she whispered. "Exactly."


	31. Chapter 28

Sora, Roxas, Kairi, and Namine all dozed against the wall besides the bridge wrapped under Auron's massive red coat. With the exception of Sora they were sleeping quietly. Sora however was too lost in his own thoughts to fall asleep, thinking of everything that had just happened to him in the last several hours.

"Will you be alright?"

Sora looked up quietly at Zack's concerned face, and nodded. "You look worse."

Zack smiled and shrugged, he'd taken a real beating when the bearers had been sucked away, his face was bruised and parts of his armor had been slashed through to reveal still healing gashes and more bruises.

"Cid says we'll be back in Hollow Bastion in a few hours, and then we can put all this behind us." Zack paused for a moment, and then smiled warmly. "You did good; all of you."

Sora smiled and nodded looking at Kairi as she slept on his shoulder; he supposed that they had done a good job. After all they'd beaten Xehanort hadn't they? He looked the other way at Roxas, frowning as he remembered watching Kadaj die and wondering about Rikku's death as well. A lot of people had lost their lives, what if they'd been better prepared for their roles as the keybearers, could they have stopped the bloodshed? He supposed not, after all, bearers or not they had all just been normal kids until all this had happened. He looked around the bridge, Tifa and Cloud were fast asleep up against the observation glass, Tifa was actually worse off than Zack though she didn't look it, he had a lot more injuries but none of them were as critical as hers. Zack, Leon and Cloud had finally been able to cast a basic healing spell on her wounds but she needed more intensive care than any of them could give her.

Leon was leaning against the glass near the pair and looking out over the landscape below the airship. He'd been quiet since Sora had told them about their father's presence in Traverse Town. It was a little disconcerting how distant Leon had become when he'd heard about Auron and seen the red coat, their father had worn the coat all the time when he wasn't around the house or at the beach with the boys. Both Sora and Leon had fallen asleep with the coat wrapped around them and Sora's earliest memories of his father were being held closely and swathed in the coat's massive folds. He supposed that Leon still felt resentful about their father leaving, or it could be that he didn't get the chance to see him, Sora was unsure. He hoped that Leon would alright though; he didn't want to think of his brother remaining this quiet and removed for too long.

Zack had moved off and was standing up on the bridge with Cid, Sora couldn't hear what they were talking about but he assumed from the laughter that they were joking about some private joke they shared. Sora looked around for Riku, frowning when he couldn't see him; he thought of going to look for him, but decided against it he didn't want to move from his spot and risk waking everyone else up. Besides him Roxas shifted, leaning over and falling against him. Sora half expected a camera to click but of course no one was really paying attention, he yawned, sighing quietly before he leaned over against Roxas' head and finally drifted off to sleep himself.

"Sora, hey Sora wake up!"

Sora blinked blearily and looked up at Roxas, his vision cleared and he realized that he was alone against the bulkhead swathed in his father's coat. He wondered sleepily when the others had gotten up, and why he hadn't woken up with them.

"We're back?"

Roxas nodded, helping him to his feet. "You slept like a rock."

Sora smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess I was tired."

"We all were." Riku said, sticking his head out of the hatch besides them.

Sora frowned. "Where have you been?"

"I was down in the hold," he smirked, "lots of room to vent down there."

Neither Roxas nor Sora said anything; they simply followed Riku to the boarding deck where Cid had just lowered the ramp and was walking down with the others, Cloud was carrying Tifa who looked very pale as she held onto his armor weakly. At the bottom of the ramp, the King and the rest of the expected crowd waited for them. The King smiled and clasped Cid's arm when he reached the bottom of the ramp.

"You did it Cid, your insane plan worked. Now I think we should tell you something."

Cid looked apprehensive at this, mostly because the solemn tone taken by the King. Sora looked over to where the King's eyes had turned and saw Yuna and Aerith standing there smiling. They moved aside and Sora felt Roxas nearly fall over as Rikku leapt out from between her cousins and jumped into her father's arms. Cid for his part did fall over with Rikku wrapped in his arms.

He stared in stunned silence at her, his mouth agape as she grinned. "Hi Dad, I missed you."

Cid looked up at Ansem who smiled calmly. "As far as we can tell those killed by the Heartless after the heart was unlocked have returned to us, they simply woke up in their beds."

Aerith and Yuna had joined Cid now and he had his arms wrapped around all three of them, sobbing uncontrollably speechless. When Rikku was finally able to calm him she looked up at Roxas, smiling in a manner all too familiar.

"Roxas I think we have something to finish." She said impishly.

Roxas opened his mouth, but Namine stopped him, clasping his hand tightly and obviously.

"He's taken."

Rikku frowned, though she didn't look upset. "No fair, stealing him when I wasn't looking."

Namine merely smiled at Rikku who sighed resignedly. "Well good for both of you then." She finally said.

The other Riku, Sora already knew this was going to be a headache, had moved down to Sephiroth who had put a hand on his shoulder and was actually smiling, though just barely. Sora realized why Riku must look so relieved, Kadaj was back too. His heart swelled with warmth, he was glad Riku hadn't lost his cousin after all, remembering what Kairi had said about Riku's ability to cope. Cloud, Zack, and Tifa were all off to one side where Merlin was tending to the latter twos' wounds while Cloud stood quietly besides Tifa who was already looking better under Merlin's careful eye.

"This is wonderful." Kairi whispered to Sora who nodded agreement. If those killed by the Heartless were back then everyone killed during the battle, or anywhere else for that matter, could go home to their families and loved ones. He felt very proud suddenly, to have been a part of what enabled them to come home. He touched his father's coat quietly, silently thanking his father for showing them the way to save everyone. Leon and Rinoa were standing at the base of the ramp to one side wrapped in each other's arms kissing passionately.

Sora heard Leon speaking quietly. "I told you I'd come back, nothing could keep me from you."

Rinoa just nodded and leaned against him, closing her eyes as he ran his hand through her long black hair. Then Madame Mim pushed her way through the crowd and eyed Namine and Kairi for a moment with an appraising stare before smiling and spreading her arms wide. The girls ran to her and she wrapped them up in a massive hug, smiling up at Sora and Roxas, there were tears in her eyes.

"Thank you boys, you're both coming over tonight for a dinner you'll never forget."

Roxas and Sora exchanged glances before smiling at her. "Sure," they said in unison.

"Oh thank you Roxas, that's very kind of you."

The dinner had certainly been amazing, Mim had unashamedly used magic to have the kitchen assist her in her cooking endeavors while the four of them had sat around watching spellbound as she conducted the entire kitchen in what was practically a ballet. Now for whatever reason, she was back to acting the part of an old withered grandmother, Roxas wasn't sure why she continued to throw up the façade when everyone present knew she was quite capable of bustling around like something half…well he supposed half her age would be somewhere in the hundreds, so maybe a quarter her age. Though knowing that she was faking her elderly problems hadn't stopped him from helping to do the dishes since she hadn't felt inclined to cast magic on the kitchen yet again. She seemed to agree with Merlin and Maleficent on one thing, magic was not to be used to solve all menial tasks. To do so could bring trouble so sparingly was the operative word.

Not that such chidings really mattered for Roxas given his continuous failure to do so much as conjure hot air. Now though it didn't bother him nearly as much as it had, after all they'd won so there was no need for him to cast fireballs or call lighting from the sky. All that was past, passing the latest dish on to Mim he looked at his hand curiously. In all honesty, he hadn't even tried to call forth his keyblades since Auron had taken them back to the surface. Could he even still do it? He doubted it; he doubted very much that they'd have kept their weapons after sealing the heart. It would make sense to still bear a key when there was nothing left to wield it against.

Looking up he realized Mim was smiling at him gently. "I wouldn't fret dear; you will have it when and if you need it. That's how these things work."

Roxas nodded, feeling very silly suddenly. Was he really that easy to read? Or was Mim just…well Mim; he decided it was the latter and went back to washing the latest dish. She eyed him fondly for a moment before leaning over and whispering conspiratorially.

"Have you slept with Namine yet?"

Roxas turned bright red. "I-I mean, I uh…"

Mim cackled with delight. "Oh I didn't think you had, but you're quite adorable when you're red like that. I hope Namine gets to see that from time to time."

He continued to look at her, scandalized that she'd even suggest such a thing. His mind started conjuring images of Namine without her clothes on and his face turned redder, Mim clucked in amusement.

"Oh you dirty boy. I can see that you know."

He felt utterly helpless; Mim laughed, and waved him away. "Shoo, I'll finish up the rest; you're too much fun to resist and if you stay here I'm afraid I won't be able to help myself."

Roxas made a hasty exit from the kitchen then, leaving the old woman chuckling to herself, he went into the living room where the others were playing a game of cards.

Namine looked up and smiled at him. "She was teasing you wasn't she."

Roxas didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything, taking a seat besides Namine, she was winning and her next hand was another winner.

"Wow."

She smiled, "oh don't give it away Roxas."

Kairi giggled. "I would say its luck but I don't think you would leave it up to luck."

Namine continued to smile as she laid down her hand. "I'm just very good with the cards."

Sora threw up his hands. "Alright that's it; I am going to beat you if it kills me."

Everyone laughed as another hand was dealt, this time including Roxas, he doubted Sora would ever beat Namine. Sora had a tendency to lose these kinds of games, he was far too eager to compete in them though. At least he had fun, Roxas always over thought everything and ended up losing because of that. Maybe though, just maybe, he could win a hand or two.

"That was a lot of fun." Namine whispered, nuzzling against Roxas gently.

He snorted, putting an arm around her, kissing her forehead. "You could have been nice to him."

She giggled. "But it was more fun to watch him lose twelve games in a row wasn't it?"

Roxas shook his head, yes; it had been funny to watch Sora lose repeatedly over and over again. He was too stubborn for his own good sometimes, he'd just kept trying and each time Namine had beaten him he'd gone for another round.

"Sometimes I think he got all the willpower in the family."

Namine snorted, closing her eyes as she leaned against him. "You have plenty of that Roxas, you just don't know it."

She shivered, Roxas pulled the sheets up around both of them, and she shook her head. "No, it isn't cold, something just feels very wrong."

"One of your drawings?" Roxas asked nervously.

"No…it's not like that, I haven't had any dreams beyond this point yet, nothing prophetic at least. It's just a feeling of unease, like something is going to happen tonight."

Roxas thought of what Mim had asked him in the kitchen and turned red, Namine blinked and looked at him, propping herself up on her elbows.

"What?"

"N-nothing."

She smiled, leaning forwards and kissing him. "I hope it's nothing about me, I don't want you to have nothing about anyone else."

Roxas didn't say anything as he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her, taking both their minds off her fears. He didn't take it any further than kissing, but for him that was enough, and Namine didn't want it any other way either.


	32. Chapter 29

Author's Note: Well for those that thought it was finally over…psych! Sorry for dragging it out but really I couldn't just end it there could I? Besides I still have some ammo left in my bag, get ready for the real ride.

"Roxas, Roxas wake up."

Roxas frowned, it sounded like Namine, but something was strange. He blinked blearily as she called him again, shaking him roughly.

"What is i—"

He stopped and looked at her, taking her in his arms. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Namine shook her head, pressing against him, her tears wouldn't stop flowing. "Something terrible is happening."

"I don—"

The room shook violently; Namine screamed and wrapped her arms around him. Roxas held her closely. There was a sudden flash and Mim was there in the room, she grabbed them both roughly and a moment later they were standing outside, the world was still shaking, both Roxas and Namine fell over, gagging violently. Then Mim appeared again, this time with Sora and Kairi who also turned over and retched. When Roxas recovered he looked up at Mim, she was staring up at the night sky in shock. He followed her gaze and felt his heart sink, there was a whirling maelstrom of energy above the castle and it was slowly tearing the castle apart.

"What's happening?" Sora asked in disbelief.

"I don't know, I don't know." Whispered Mim, which for Roxas was even more terrifying than the swirling mass of energy.

Until then there had been the glow from street lamps and the strange glow in the sky where the castle was lighting the night, now though the lamps went out and the sky grew even darker.

"No, no...." Namine started whispering, clutching her head and closing her eyes.

"Sora!" Roxas yelled, Sora rushed to his side, they put their arms out and their keyblades snapped into existence, their light illuminating the area around them.

Roxas stared in horror at the Heartless before them, it was the same one that had killed Rikku, but there were five of them now and they were spreading out around him and Sora, their fangs bared, their eyes glowing menacingly as their tails lashed back and forth.

"Sora, be careful."

He nodded, looking back at Namine and Kairi; the former had lost consciousness and was being supported by Kairi now.

"Children, get back." Mim murmured.

She stepped forwards, pushing past Sora and Roxas both. Roxas looked up at her and gasped, her face was elongating as she walked and her teeth had grown long and sharp. The dragon-like face on a human body was horrifying and he stepped back rapidly as Mim's form surged upwards and filled the tight quarters, her tail lashed out and struck the ground violently, shattering cobblestones where it struck. The Heartless seemed uncertain now, their chosen victims were now behind a towering wall of angry flesh and scale and there was no easy way around. They slunk back slowly, snarling and gnashing their teeth impotently as the dragon advanced and snapped at them warningly; Roxas with Sora, and Kairi supporting Namine between them followed in Mim's wake.

The massive body of the dragon was too large for the street, however Mim paid no heed to the damage she was doing to the surrounding buildings as she moved forwards inexorably, Roxas was feeling increasingly nervous as Mim continued. Then he looked up and realized what was wrong.

"Mim above you!"

The dark purple dragon raised its head to see more of the Heartless on the buildings surrounding it, without anymore warning they leapt onto her back and began tearing and slashing, she shrieked in agony and thrashed violently, her tail swinging wildly into the buildings around her.

"Take my girls away from here!" She shrieked in an agonized cry as the Heartless continued their attack, Mim clasped one in her jaws and crushed it with a sickening crunch, throwing the limp form into the cobblestones where it burst into a mist-like shadow. "Now," she bellowed desperately

Sora and Roxas looked at one another, then at Kairi, there were tears in her eyes but she nodded. "We have to run."

With Namine between the three of them they ducked down a side-street and ran, it was slow going but the Heartless didn't come for them.

"Where is Cid's defense system?" Sora called out.

Roxas shook his head, "just run!"

They emerged back on another main street and a familiar cry caught the boys' attention.

"Red where did you come from?" Sora yelled in surprise.

The big chocobo skidded to halt in front of them and squawked in their faces Sora reached up and pulled the bird down, helping Kairi up onto his back and with Roxas' help they got Namine's still unconscious form up with her as well.

"You have to carry them Red, okay? Take care of them."

The bird chirped excitedly and nuzzled against Sora, Roxas scowled. "Not now Red, come on."

They moved off at a jog, Red trotted after them as if the city around them wasn't filled with screams of terror. It was the first time that Roxas had stopped to listen to city, there were cries of alarm and fear everywhere. He wondered how many of those people were being attacked by Heartless and felt tears sting his eyes. What was happening? Hadn't they sealed the heart?

"Boys!"

Their heads snapped up to see Laguna with several other mounted knights at the next intersection. He leapt from his mount and came up to them.

"Where is Mim?"

"She got ambushed and told us to run."

Laguna nodded, and then he looked at Red with a scowl. "You dumb sack of feathers; I thought you'd gone crazy."

Red hissed at him threateningly and Laguna rolled his eyes. "He bolted from my place as soon as the shakes started."

"What about your family?" Sora asked worriedly.

"They're safe, Julia and Yuffie are with Merlin, Rinoa was with Tifa and your brothers. I can't think of many safer places can you?"

Roxas and Sora shook their heads; Laguna moved past them and looked at Namine with a frown as he felt her forehead and lifted her face up.

"She'll be fine, she's just unconscious."

"What happened to Cid's system?" Sora asked again.

Laguna's lips thinned and he pointed over their heads; they turned to see that the sky was alight with an orange glow. "Something attacked Cid's place, we don't know what happened or if anyone survived. The entire area is an inferno."

Roxas sank to his knees. "Not again," he whispered weakly.

Laguna grabbed him and pulled him up. "Don't you dare collapse now Roxas, Namine still needs you."

The words seemed to have a magical effect on Roxas and he pushed all thoughts of defeat out of his mind and nodded grimly.

"Sir!" One of the Knights called.

"In a moment," Laguna looked down at Roxas and Sora. "Head to Merlin's, it's probably the only safe place in the city right now and until we know what happened at the castle there isn't a lot you can do out here."

"Sir here they come!" The same Knight called desperately.

Laguna's head snapped around. "Go! Get out of here and stay safe!"

Roxas felt his jaw drop as Laguna ran back to his mount and leapt from the ground into the saddle, the silver was taller than Red, he couldn't see how Laguna had made the jump.

Laguna drew his sword from over his shoulder. "Come on Knights, tear them to pieces!"

The group of chocobos charged the oncoming Heartless, sending shadows flying in every direction as they began to fight, once again Roxas and Sora turned to leave their hearts sinking in their chests as they did so.

"Now don't look so depressed boys, everything will be alright I assure you." Merlin said cheerily.

Red warbled mournfully from the opened door, Merlin eyed the big bird threateningly. "You stay out there or I'll throw you into the cooking pot!"

Red croaked forlornly and lowered his head pitifully. Sora watched as the sugar pot danced over to his cup of tea and served him. He waved the pot off and it proceeded over towards Roxas. There was a gust of wind and a stack of Merlin's books tumbled over and created a domino effect, raising a cloud of dust and sending numerous effects scattering in every direction.

"Who? Now what," Archimedes said dubiously.

Mim picked herself up from the pile of books and assorted junk, glaring at Merlin warningly; Merlin had the sense to simply offer her a cup of tea which she accepted gratefully. Kairi leapt up from the table and wrapped her arms around her grandmother's waist.

"My dear Madame," Merlin remarked, "you look terrible."

Indeed Mim did look haggard, there was blood covering her clothes and she was badly bruised, though there were no obvious wounds.

She eyed Merlin dangerously, "my Namine?"

"Upstairs sleeping soundly with Julia and my coat rack keeping an eye on her, I think you should be more concerned with yourself Madame."

She waved his concern aside and flumped down in Merlin's large cushioned red chair, seething.

"Did you see that thing above the castle you old fool?"

Merlin nodded simply, smiling politely. "Yes, it was most curious; if I didn't know better I would say it was another world heart."

Mim snorted. "Preposterous, there can only be one heart per world and you know it."

Merlin nodded agreement, shrugging. "I was simply stating what it appeared to be."

"The city is in turmoil, the Heartless have turned the streets into a battlefield, Soldier, the Knights, and the Elites are all over the city trying to fight back hordes of the cursed beasts, and no one has seen the King."

"How can there be so many Heartless? We locked the heart didn't we?" Roxas asked desperately, this was all like a nightmare, he kept wondering if he'd wake up back in Namine's bed and find this was all a horrible dream.

Mim sighed, stroking Kairi's hair gently as she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. "I have no answers for you Roxas, this is all beyond anything any of us know. The Heartless should not be attacking like this with the heart sealed but they are, and we have no answers."

Merlin paused and looked out towards the door frowning, without a word he vanished in a puff of blue smoke, then just as quickly reappeared with Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, and Riku besides him, the boys were carrying Paine with them and she was bleeding profusely.

Mim leapt to her feet and with a sweep of her hand cleared the table of everything. "Put her here, gently."

They laid Paine out, she had a wound in her stomach and blood was trickling from her mouth, her eyes were staring vacantly at the ceiling. The only sign that she was even still alive was the steady rise and fall of her chest.

Loz was practically sobbing; he knelt down next to her, clutching her hand desperately. "Mother, wake up, please wake up."

Roxas looked at the others; Kadaj and Yazoo were tight lipped though there was no hiding the pain and fear in their eyes as they watched Merlin and Mim work over Paine. Riku was standing stoically to one side, Kairi went over to him and grasped his hand, and he turned to look at her, his expression just as vacant as Paine's. She wrapped her arms around him; he hesitantly embraced her as well. Sora joined them and Riku reached out to wrap him in the hug as well. Roxas suddenly felt very alone.

"You boy," Mim snapped at Kadaj. "What happened?"

Kadaj opened his mouth to answer but Paine spoke first, her eyes still unfocused. "The King, Sephiroth, the King…."

Mim scowled, "talk sense woman."

Paines eyes began to focus. "We went to find the King, he was in his chambers, it wasn't the King, and the man in red was with him. The King….the King attacked Sephiroth, attacked my husband, impaled him with shadows."

Mim and Merlin exchanged bewildered glances; Merlin for the first time looked truly grim. "They killed Sephiroth?"

Paine nodded, whatever composure she'd had vanished in that instant and she began sobbing uncontrollably. Mim sank back into Merlin's chair; Merlin joined her as Paine's children helped her up, seeing Paine of all people crying shook Roxas to the core. They were all going to die he realized, they were being eliminated in groups and the King had been the first. There was no hope.

A book slammed into his head and he staggered, "ow!"

He looked up to see Mim scowling at him. "None of that boy, if you intend to stay with Namine through all this you need to be strong; so none of that."

"Pin feathers, the only thing keeping us safe here is the enchantments! As soon as we step outside we'll be torn to pieces!" Archimedes squawked from his perch.

"Archimedes, shut up." Merlin said tersely, the owl puffed up indignantly and bustled inside his house.

Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully, his face and voice grim. "We need to find how much damage has been done, and who is still alive. Then we must decide what to do next from there, but for now all we can do is rest." He held up a hand as Mim opened her mouth to protest. "Madame I will take no protests, you will take a bed just as the rest of us shall. We will do no good to anyone emotionally and physically exhausted."

Mim nodded sullenly sinking back into the chair again. "Have it your way you old goat."

Roxas looked over to the stairs then and his eyes widened, "Namine!"

Everyone turned as he rushed to her side, putting an arm around her waist as she swayed on her feet.

"I know…I know what happened." She said meekly, her face pale.


	33. Chapter 30

Author's Note: Okay I am pissed! I've been trying to upload crap for this story all damned week and now it finally works! Blast it all and confound it!

"Your dreams child?"

Mim's voice was no longer the harsh tone it had been, it had resumed that gentle timber Roxas remembered first hearing from her lips when they'd met. Namine let Roxas guide her to a chair and took her seat, breathing heavily as she composed herself.

"There was something, dark, hidden in the castle; beneath everything else."

Merlin nodded, "Xehanort's laboratory and archives, but that was sealed when he was thrown out."

"Hush old goat," Mim said reproachfully. "Go on dear."

"When we defeated Xehanort, something woke up, something in the twilight. It became Xehnort's vessel and saved him."

Sora caught Roxas' eye curiously, something in the twilight? What was that supposed to mean? Neither boy could find an answer so they waited for Namine to continue.

"The twilight found the King, and Xehanort killed him and took his place. The King is now a shell for Xehanort and the castle is now his lair."

"Lair for what I wonder," murmured Merlin.

Namine looked up sadly, "a second heart of his own creation."

Mim's breath drew sharply in a hiss. "That damned fool is going to destroy the entire world in his lust for power. Not just the kingdom, the entire world will die if he succeeds in fabricating the second heart."

Merlin nodded quietly. "Indeed, a world cannot have two hearts; they will compete with each other, and eventually destroy everything, leaving nothing but empty space."

"Wait, so the reason all the Heartless are here is because Xehanort has a second world heart?" Sora asked in bewilderment.

"So to speak," Merlin said, "it is not a true heart; it is artificially generated though I don't know how. I knew that Xehanort had theorized of such things; however I did not know that he had progressed far enough to make it feasible."

"And with this second heart, the Heartless will be running rampant while the true world heart is left to defend itself against its usurper; leaving Xehanort in control of them yet again." Mim said tartly, "the man is completely insane if he thinks he can control forces like these."

Namine was shivering, Roxas wrapped his arms around her and she clung to him like she was drowning and he was a scrap of drift wood.

"What can we do?" He asked.

"Isn't it obvious," Riku said, finally speaking from the corner where he stood with Sora and Kairi. "We destroy the second heart."

Mim nodded, "the boy is right, but that means we have to get to the heart first, and we must remember," she looked to the still distraught Paine. "That Xehanort and this man in red, who I assume is the twilight Namine spoke of, were able to kill Sephiroth. The keybearers were lucky before to catch him by surprise, this time he will be better prepared. I fear we are going to lose many more lives before this is finally ended."

Roxas felt Namine's grip tighten and he held her closer, looking over at Sora to find that his cousin was doing the same with Kairi, and looking at him as well. They had the same helpless expressions on their faces.

Sora sat on the shore quietly tossing rocks out into the lake, the big pliodon basked on the ground close by. Sora reached up and stroked Red's head gently. The big bird warbled affectionately and stuck his head under Sora's arm. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the footsteps behind him, he jumped as something big and heavy draped over his shoulders.

He looked up; Leon was smiling gently at him.

"You forgot this."

Sora looked at his father's coat, his eyes began to water and he pulled it close around himself, Red squawked and pulled his head out of the sudden blackness, shaking his head indignantly.

Leon sat down next to him and put an arm around him, pulling him close.

"Hey, what are those for?"

"He was there the entire time Leon, alone, waiting for us all those years just so he could try to make sure we had normal lives. Now look what's happened," he closed his eyes and leaned against his brother, feeling the familiar curves and warmth that he knew so well. "Did he give all that for nothing?"

Leon was tight lipped as he sighed. "I think he did what he thought was best. Even if it wasn't what was right."

Sora shrank slightly. "You're still mad at him."

Leon shrugged. "It's nothing; I just don't understand how he could have left us and Mom like that. Even if the King had asked him to watch over Xehanort; how could he just leave his family behind?"

Sora nodded. "I think he was sad that he didn't get to see you too."

Leon was silent for a long time. "I don't know what I would have done if I had seen him. I might have just punched him."

Sora smiled, snuggling into the over-large coat, Leon and Cloud had stopped by Mim's house before coming to Merlin's looking for Sora and Roxas. Leon had found the coat lying in Kairi's room and had brought it with him knowing that it meant a great deal to Sora, even if Leon himself hadn't forgiven their father.

"That would have been weird; Dad was pretty good I wonder if you could have hit him."

Leon scowled and wrapped Sora's head in a lock, ruffling his hair. "I'd beat that old geezer into the dust and you know it." He said with a laugh.

"What are you doing to Sora Leon?"

They turned to see Kairi, Leon smiled and picked himself up. "Nothing at all, I'll leave you two alone."

As he walked off Kairi sat down besides Sora, the pliodon opened one massive gold eye and stared at this latest newcomer for a moment before pushing back into the water lazily and vanishing beneath the water.

"I think I offended him." Kairi said with a giggle.

"It's a girl."

Kairi's smile widened, "jealousy?"

"Probably," Sora said with a laugh.

"Everything will work out Sora, you'll see."

He nodded, wrapping the coat around both of them, Red chirped and shifted so they could lean back on him like a cushion.

"I hope so Kairi, it all seems so hopeless right now. The King is gone, Xehanort is back and controls the Heartless; all we have is what Namine has told us and the bits and pieces everyone who was fighting told us."

"You feel guilty about last night don't you."

He nodded. "Everyone was fighting, some people even died, and we still have to face Xehanort again. It's just insane…I guess the good thing is that once we destroy the second heart we'll bring everyone back."

Kairi looked down at the ground. "You didn't hear then."

"Hear what?" Sora asked with a frown.

Now Kairi's eyes filled with tears. "No one is coming back Sora." She managed to choke out.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, why wasn't anyone coming back? It had worked before, why not again?

"The heart was unsealed before, that's why everyone was able to come back when we resealed it. The heart is sealed now, so there is no way to bring them back. Grandmother and Merlin were talking about it with Paine and the others. Telling them that Sephiroth was gone fo—"

She began to really cry then; Sora had enough presence of mind to hold her close despite his own sudden leaden heart. If they died this time around, no one would be able to bring them back? They would die for real this time, some already had he knew. He began to think of everyone, no one knew where Cid, Yuna, and Rikku were, Aerith had been with Zack and the other members of Zack's squad and they were now here, Laguna was still unaccounted for but his family was safe here with Merlin. The King was dead, Sephiroth was dead, and no one had seen Maleficent since this had all started; what scared him the most was that those were only the people he knew. There were thousands of people living in Hollow Bastion. How many had lost their lives already?

His chest felt very heavy suddenly, and he pulled Kairi close to himself as they leaned back against Red, seeking what comfort he could with her.

"It'll be alright Kairi," he said, though in his heart he wasn't certain that it would be.

"This is insane." Mim said flatly.

"What choice do we have?" Zack spat back.

"You're suggesting we all simply rush the castle ruins and hope we survive inside them long enough to find the artificial heart and destroy it before Xehanort can stop us. It's insane."

"Again, what choice do we have?" Cloud said calmly, leaning against the wall.

They were all assembled around Merlin's table, the room that was normally so cluttered was unusually clean, Merlin had been forced to tidy up significantly in light of all the guests he was entertaining.

Namine spoke up quietly from her chair. "There has got to be a better way than simply attacking him. Couldn't we try to sneak in? He can't possibly be aware of everything."

"The Heartless are everywhere in the city," Leon said simply, Rinoa was besides him and they were holding hands tightly. "And they get thicker the closer to the castle you get; I doubt we could sneak in without being spotted by at least one."

Before the discussion could continue, there was a fluttering at the door, Maleficent's raven flew in and alighted on the table, hopping over to Merlin and cackling at him noisily. Everyone fell silent as Merlin listened calmly to the bird's croaks and caws calmly, nodding every so often. When the raven finally finished it began preening itself patiently as Merlin stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Finally Mim grew impatient. "What is it you old goat?"

Merlin smiled, his eyes twinkling. "It seems we have a stroke of luck. Maleficent is inside the castle."

"How is that lucky?" Roxas asked. "She could be killed!"

"Yes, but it gives us an easy way into the castle, using her as an anchor we can sustain a continuous portal from our position to hers quite easily; granted Mim and I will have to remain here to ensure that the portal is stable." He looked around at the assembled party. "However it should allow those of you willing to go to gain entrance into the castle ruins without soliciting any Heartless reactions initially. Of course once they realize where you are it will be another matter entirely."

There was silence as everyone absorbed what had just been said, after what seemed like an eternity Paine stepped forwards.

"I'm going, those monsters killed my husband."

Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo clustered in around her.

"If Mother is going we're coming with her." Kadaj said assertively, his brothers nodded.

Riku shrugged, standing with his cousins and aunt. "Well I was the one who said we have to destroy the heart, so I'm coming too."

"So are we." Said Zack grimly, Cloud, Tifa, and Leon all nodded agreement.

"Well," Sora said with a smile. "I'm not letting Leon go without coming with him."

"I'm going with Sora." Kairi said, Mim looked like she wanted to protest but remained silent.

Roxas looked at Namine nervously, taking a deep breath as she grasped his hand reassuringly. "We're coming too."

Merlin chuckled. "Well I suppose we don't need to ask for volunteers after all."

Mim nodded, looking worried. "Is anyone else concerned about this?"

Zack shrugged. "We beat Xehanort once with a much smaller force, we'll be fine."

Rinoa was kissing Leon fiercely, when they broke the kiss she was glaring. "This is twice now; you'd better come back again."

"Don't worry," Cloud said, "he can't die while Sora still needs looking after."

"Hey I'm not a baby." Sora said in annoyance.

"You're still clinging to that coat like a blanket aren't you?" Riku asked with a smirk.

There were a series of chuckles from others in the room, but then Kairi stepped to his defense. "Oh leave him alone Riku, it's all he has from his Dad after all."

Tifa leaned over and hugged Sora from behind who blushed as his head was squeezed against her chest. "Yeah, leave my little brothers alone. You mess with either of them and you'll have me to deal with."

Sora felt something hard against his arm and looked down at Tifa's hand with a frown; there was a simple band of interlaced gold and silver around her finger.

He looked at Cloud. "When did you get that?"

Cloud's face was a little red as he shrugged, "the store was on fire and it would have been a waste….."

"You stole it!" Roxas exclaimed in horror as his brother trailed off.

Tifa giggled, smiling at Roxas as she continued to lean on Sora. "That just makes it more exciting."

"Uh Tifa," Leon said with a smirk. "I think you're going to absorb Sora into your chest if you keep that up."

Tifa looked down at Sora and winked. "I'm sure he likes it."

Sora's face turned a deeper shade of red and a chorus of laughter answered his discomfort. At least, he thought to himself, everyone could still laugh despite the disaster they were facing, maybe there was still hope after all.


	34. Chapter 31

Author's Note: So I'm going to make an excuse, I'm busy, packing up the house so it can be sold, I've finally confronted my dad about the Navy and am signing up by the end of the month and I'm suffering some writer's block as I try to get this story to its finale. I hope the story is not suffering for that, and I'm sorry for the slowed pace. Enjoy!

"Is everyone ready?" Paine asked.

Roxas noted that she sounded very grim, he preferred Zack's more laid back method of command, but Zack had deferred to the older woman's experience, since apparently she could beat him easily in a fight. Roxas found that hard to believe but wasn't going to argue.

"Not yet," Rinoa said.

"How many times do I have to tell you Rinoa, you aren't coming," Leon growled.

She ignored him, tightening the straps on the pack she was wearing and going over the blade-staff that Merlin had given her. She reached for Auron's big red coat and put it on, smiling at Sora thankfully, it wasn't as good as the armor that some of the others were wearing but it was better than nothing and Sora had been happy to let her use it. She and Leon had been fighting since the night before, Rinoa at some point had decided that she wasn't going to sit on the sidelines a second time, especially with her father missing and possibly dead because of Xehanort, and even more so when her older sister was going after him as well. She'd eventually convinced Paine that they needed someone with her magic and healing abilities and that had been the end of all Leon's protests, or at least their usefulness. He was still trying to convince her to stay.

Leon looked at Tifa pleadingly. "Can you please tell her this is a bad idea?"

Tifa snorted, "if she's not going to listen to the man she loves and sleeps with, you really think she's going to listen to her big sister?"

"Leon I think you're stuck with her, besides she has a valid point, she is a level two healer and mage." Zack said with a smile.

Leon glared, "what if it was Aerith?"

Zack's smile shifted uneasily though it remained in place. "I'd be upset, but it's her choice. Get over it Leon, we can't keep them out of everything."

"That's enough," Paine growled darkly. "Merlin, Mim, aren't you ready yet?"

Mim snorted. "No respect for her elders, if I was anything like my old self I'd turn her into a toad and boil her alive."

Merlin chuckled. "Now now, you've given all that up remember?"

Mim grumbled under her breath, casting a glance at her granddaughters, standing with Roxas and Sora. "You four be careful, I'll have another dinner waiting for you when you get back."

Zack chuckled. "Oh sure, they get the free meal."

Merlin raised his hands, as did Mim, there was a flash and what looked like a wall of shimmering water opened between their raised arms. Paine raised a hand and waved it forwards, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz rushed forwards, weapons drawn and ducked through the portal with their mother. Zack led his squad with Rinoa in next, finally Sora, Roxas, Namine, Kairi, and Riku all clasping each other's hands walked through. There was a brief moment of disorientation as they passed through, but none of the nauseating effects that Roxas had been expecting, this form of teleportation seemed much easier on the body, maybe because you walked the entire time instead of being jolted from one place to the other. He wondered why this wasn't how people like Mim and Maleficent got around, Mim and Merlin had said that it required a lot of energy and concentration, but didn't simply warping around? He'd have to ask if he remembered after all of this, and if he survived, he reminded himself soberly.

They stepped out of the portal; Maleficent was standing behind them, breathing heavily as she lowered her arms, the portal began to close, but then with a whoosh of air, Red came barreling through the portal with a loud squawk, trailing several books, scrolls, and other odds and ends from Merlin's with him; Roxas got the feeling that a cooking pot would be in Red's future if Merlin caught him, but he was glad that the red chocobo had somehow managed to follow them. Maleficent swore in indignation and glowered up at the massive bird for a moment before sighing tiredly.

"For a change, I am pleased to have you children present, and I suppose," she eyed Red in annoyance. "I am grateful that your filthy chicken followed you." She said stoically, her raven croaked and cackled on her staff; Roxas swore it was chuckling.

Roxas looked around the chamber, the castle was nothing like he remembered, it had always been immense and imposing yes, but now it was dark and forbidding; before it had been well lit, even cheery despite the fact that it had obviously been built with war in mind.

"Is everyone okay?" Rinoa asked, looking around their group; she looked to Maleficent questioningly.

"If you think that these creatures could do anything to harm me, you are a fool child." The older woman said derisively.

"She's just doing her job," Tifa chided her, Maleficent snorted as if the notion was just simple silliness.

"That's enough, all of you." Paine said coolly, she was looking at Maleficent too, "what can you tell us about the castle?"

"Very little of it remains as it was, during the second heart's ascension it destroyed much of the interior, I chose this room for a portal because it is relatively removed and intact. We must be careful, Xehanort's artificial Heartless are roaming the halls in packs, and they have been finishing off survivors of the castle servants, guards, and court."

"You didn't help anyone escape?" Zack asked dubiously.

Maleficent didn't miss a beat. "I deemed their lives inconsequential when compared to my continued service within the keep."

The air suddenly felt very heavy, Roxas couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Maleficent had watched and allowed others to be killed by the Heartless and had not as much as batted an eyelash. He shuddered involuntarily, Namine's hand squeezed his and he could feel the same tremor passing through her body as well.

"Wait," Sora murmured, frowning in confusion. "I thought that the artificial Heartless wouldn't be able to be formed any longer."

"Something in the second heart or perhaps Xehanort himself; allows them to be formed using the collected energy of the heart. Like one of Cid's blueprints," Maleficent said disdainfully. "I have also seen natural Heartless wandering through the halls, however they seem much less directed than Xehanort's minions."

"Have you see Xehanort himself?" Paine asked, she sounded murderous as she ground the words out.

"Yes, he uses the Kings body. I imagine that he believes it will give us pause when we come for him."

Paine smiled viciously, "he's going to be sorely mistaken."

Maleficent nodded agreement. "Come, we must make our way to the audience hall that is where Xehanort has located this new heart and himself." She glanced at Red who was crouching low and bobbing his head cheerily as Sora stroked his beak. "And make sure that chicken stays quiet."

Things were going well Sora thought to himself as they moved quietly down the hall, he kept glancing around at the others he would have felt better wearing the armor that had been given to him before, but he supposed that it couldn't be helped. There had been no time to go back to Mim's to find anything other than what they'd been wearing. He looked over at Kairi and caught her smiling at him, he felt his body warm up and he smiled back. Ahead of them, Kadaj held up a hand as he peered around the next corner everyone froze, then Kadaj waved them forwards, Yazoo went first, his caster drawn and aimed down the corridor as Loz moved down and motioned them forwards again. The three of them had been leading their steady advance the entire time. They worked so well together it was sometimes had to believe that they'd yet to use any words at all.

Rinoa brushed past Sora, his dad's coat large on her though it certainly fit her better than it had him, he had a lot of growing to do.

Leon began walking besides him. "Think Dad will watch over her?"

Sora blinked in surprise, what kind of question was that supposed to be? He looked up at Leon, he looked very concerned.

Sora smiled, "I'm sure Dad and Mom would have loved her."

Leon snorted, "thanks for letting her use it. Dad might not have been a very good parent, but no one would ever say he didn't make us feel safe right?"

Sora recalled vague memories of years ago, fuzzy images of sitting on the beach at night with his mother and father, and Leon watching the night sky. He'd always been afraid of the dark, but despite the darkness, having his father there had always been a comfort and made him feel safe. After his dad left, the family had stopped going to the beach at night, as if without him they were in danger. Looking at his experiences in the past couple weeks, perhaps they had been. He wondered if the Heartless could have sensed that he'd be a bearer back then, what would have happened if they'd come for him and the others on the islands? It was scary to think about, things would have been so different than they were now. Would his father still be alive, and would he have been able to protect them to begin with?

Ahead of the group, Loz had frozen and was holding up a fisted hand, his arm gauntlet snapped up and the electro prods on its end snapped into position, electricity coursing over their tips. Besides Sora Tifa gave her shock gloves a squeeze, Sora heard the sizzling as she flexed the charge slowly through her fingers. Sora flexed his own hand, he didn't summon up his keyblade yet, but he could in an instant if needed. The other Elites all fingered their weapons as well tensely as Loz continued to search in the gloom. Then Yazoo's caster spat fire and there was a shriek above their heads as a small armored Heartless fell to the floor and shattered in its armor. That was the cue apparently because from all around them Heartless began shifting out of the shadows and down either end of the hall more armed and armored Heartless came rushing to join the fight, in a matter of seconds the quiet was a memory and an all out melee ensued.

Sora's keyblade slashed back and forth through the throng of shadows, it seemed that no matter where he swung he game into contact with a Heartless, and some of them took more than one strike to destroy meaning he had to keep beating them until they faded away finally. Whenever he had the chance he yelled out a spell to aid himself and those around him as best he could, though having Rinoa there was what really made the difference. She kept on barking out spells as if she were simply talking and all kinds of things happened to the Heartless around them. Sometimes they'd go flying into walls, other times they'd be flash frozen, once he saw a swarm of the small chattering insect like Heartless incinerated in a wall of fire. It seemed to Sora that Leon's concerns about Rinoa were unwarranted, it seemed like nothing could stop their group, between the powerful fighting force in the form of the Elites and bearers and the magic abilities of Maleficent and Rinoa, the Heartless seemed to simply fall over.

Of course that was proven wrong moments later when Yazoo cried out in pain, Loz stood over his brother beating off one of the big canine Heartless that had taken a bite out of Yazoo's arm and side. Kadaj leapt on the Heartless' back and drove his double bladed sword into its spine it sputtered and croaked and then fell over, its massive shape dissolving. Loz lifted Yazoo up, supporting him and taking his caster, using it for himself to cover them both.

"We need to get out of here!" Zack called, "they're going to slaughter us if we can't break free."

"Agreed," Paine said loudly, kicking her latest victim off her blade.

Big Red was squawking almost gleefully as he bounced from Heartless to Heartless like stepping stones, tearing through everything in his path.

"Bearer," Maleficent bellowed, "get your chicken, Elites push forwards, I will handle these creatures."

Sora wondered what she intended to do exactly he called for Red, the big chocobo warbled and whistled, making his way to Sora's side, they moved past Maleficent who raised her arms and then struck the ground with her staff. She stared at the Heartless as if she was going to force them to stop by sheer willpower. For a moment, it seemed to work; the normal, shadow Heartless stopped moving creating a jam of sorts that stopped the attacks. Then suddenly, the natural Heartless as one turned and began attacking the artificial, Sora stared dumbstruck as the Heartless began tearing each other to pieces.

"Ho—" He started.

"The Heartless are not a force that can be controlled by anyone, Xehanort refuses to believe that. They are instinctual and vicious creatures that will attack anything that is not of their own kind. They know that the artificials are not their own, it is simply Xehanort's willpower that keeps them in line. I'm providing another will for them, to return them to their natural state."

With that, Maleficent waved her hand at them dismissively. "Go! This will attract Xehanort's attention as he tries to arrest my will and the Heartless once again. I will be your decoy, do not fail. Many lives have already been given for your success."

Sora again felt a shot of guilt as yet another person offered themselves up for the bearers, it seemed so wrong to him.

Kairi grabbed his hand. "Sora let's go!"

He nodded and began running with her, there was a scream and he turned to see Rinoa tackled by three Heartless, Leon was up ahead locked in combat, Rinoa was by herself. Sora yanked free of Kairi and dashed towards Rinoa, even as he ran though he could see that he was not going to reach her in time. She struck one Heartless with her staff, impaling it and tossing it aside, the second gripped the staff in its jaws and wrenched it away, with a scream Rinoa raised her arms as the two remaining Heartless opened their maws and went for her throat and face. Sora's heart screamed as he rammed his keyblade into the side of one Heartless, but the big quadruped threw him off, turning on him now and backing him against the wall. Rinoa still had one more on her and Sora was now trapped between the wall and his own Heartless, where was everyone else?


	35. Chapter 32

Sora blinked at the painful light, he heard someone cursing, the voice sounded familiar. His vision began to clear and his jaw fell off; standing over Rinoa was his father, his arm jammed into the jaws of the Heartless that had been about to tear into her a moment before. His teeth were gritted against the pain; Sora's head snapped around as he remembered the other Heartless, Red was clawing it to pieces viciously, shredding the now mangled corpse even as it faded away. Sora watched as his father punched the Heartless, sending it sprawling, he drew his sword and in one swing took its head off. The headless corpse writhed on the ground for a moment before it faded into nothingness once more.

Auron turned to look at Rinoa, his features hardened in a scowl. "Who are you and why do you have my jacket?"

"Dad!" Sora exclaimed, leaping on his father, looking over Auron's shoulder he saw the others coming back. There was no sign of the Heartless that had been crawling over the walls a moment ago.

Auron held Sora with one arm as he sheathed his sword again; he was still looking at Rinoa questioningly.

"Who are you girl?"

"She's my fiancée," Leon said defensively, helping Rinoa up.

Auron's eyes flicked down to the rings on their fingers and nodded in approval. "Your mother would be happy."

"How would you know, you left her." Leon said acidly.

Despite the hurtful tone Auron remained unfazed. "Because until a moment ago, I was with her, it would seem that my little trick worked."

"Trick?" Sora asked, now he was confused.

Auron opened his mouth, but Paine interrupted him, "you used a binding spell to attach your soul to an object, in this case your coat. When the wearer's will to live was strong enough and truly threatened, you were called out."

Auron shrugged modestly, "I learned a few things over the years."

Leon still looked extremely uncomfortable in his father's presence; Sora hoped they wouldn't fight anymore. Auron at least seemed inclined to ignore the conflict and leave things well enough alone instead of provoking Leon.

He put Sora down. "So what is going on exactly, I thought we sealed this mess up."

It took a few moments to explain everything, in that time Auron's face turned grim, when they'd finished his voice was a growl as he spoke.

"That scum had a vessel hidden in the castle and now uses the King's body for the same thing? He's stubborn that's for certain," he looked around at those assembled. "Is this your entire group?"

"No," Tifa said, she seemed a bit in awe of Auron, which Sora found more than a little odd. It was just his father after all, "Maleficent stayed back a ways to keep Xehanort's attention on her so we could push forwards."

"The King's advisor is helping someone without his orders? That's certainly an improvement in her temperament." Auron said with a wry smile, he looked at Paine. "Well commander, I am at your disposal, use me as you see fit."

Rinoa looked up from his arm, returning her healing tools to her pack. "There, I've closed the wound though you'll want to be careful while the potion and spell bond with each other and your body."

Auron flexed his arm to test it, his smile uncomfortably vicious. "Let's finish this then before anyone else is hurt."

Sora and the others moved forwards at a steady clip after that, his father at the head of their formation with his great sword flashing this way and that. He'd let Rinoa keep his coat for her continued protectionm the result was a little intimidating as he strode through the Heartless facing them in a sleeveless black tunic, cutting through opponent after opponent without so much as flinching. Silently, Sora wondered just what his father had done before becoming a father. The only memory he really had of his father's sword was the one time, the time when he'd caught Leon trying to swing it out in the yard. Auron had been furious, wrenching the blade from Leon's hands; it was one of the clearest memories Sora had of his father from when he was a child, mostly because it had been so terrifying to see his dad that angry.

Auron blocked an attack aimed at Kadaj's neck, throwing the armed Heartless back and giving it a round-house send off with his boot heel.

"You're one of Sephiroth's boys." He said simply, Kadaj nodded, Auron smiled. "Your father would be proud of you and your brothers. I'm sorry we lost him."

Kadaj looked a little taken aback by the easy compliment and murmured a thank you before moving on. Leon moved up besides his father, and Sora strained to listen in on their conversation.

"I wanted to thank you for earlier."

"You're welcome."

Their tone was quiet, resigned, strained even; Auron took a breath before he continued in the moment of calm.

"I never meant to leave the three of you forever."

"But you did."

"I died Leon; you can't expect me to cheat death."

Leon fired a caster shot into the faceplate of yet another Heartless before cutting it from shoulder to hip.

"But you have, twice now."

Auron snorted. "Is that so, have I?"

Leon looked at him strangely. "You're here aren't you?"

Auron's smile appeared but it was sad, he leaned close to Leon and whispered something. Leon's face shifted uneasily and he shot a look back at Sora before whispering back. Sora strained to hear their now muffled conversation, he was so focused that he jumped when Kairi froze a Heartless that had dropped from the ceiling, and she smiled at him.

"You lazy bum, you're going to get hurt if you don't pay more attention."

"Sorry, I was just—" he didn't want to say he'd been eavesdropping, "thinking about something."

She nodded, "its scary isn't it, having your dad back suddenly. I don't know how Namine and I would take it if our parents came back suddenly after being gone all this time. You know I'm here for you right?"

He nodded, taking her offered hand and squeezing it tightly before stopping with a frown, Paine had stopped up ahead, she was whispering quietly to Auron and the other adults at the front.

Sora pulled Kairi with him, "come on."

When they got closer they heard what she was talking about. "—on't know what he has in there with him."

Auron nodded thoughtfully, "if he's gotten all his abilities back from his new heart, then there will be more of what we've been fighting, as well as some more powerful calicos," he looked around the assemblage warningly. "They are extremely dangerous, I've never actually killed one, and they're the things that originally killed me."

"So we don't fight them alone," Zack said calmly, Auron nodded.

"Take them on in pairs if you can, more is better. I wish I could tell you that they had a weakness but from what I've seen of them, and what the world heart showed me when I was with it, Xehanort has tailored them to resist the keybearers specifically."

Cloud frowned, "so why haven't we faced more of them?"

Auron smiled, "because they're almost impossible to control, he could of course spawn them and let them run rampant, but then they'd be a threat to him as well."

Zack chuckled, "he seems to like things he can't fully control, I wonder if that says something about his character."

"Yes," Paine said acidly. "He's an idiot. Are we ready?"

Everyone nodded, Roxas and Sora exchanged nervous glances before nodding as well they looked at the others. Everyone shared the same expression, grim, determined, and, most comfortingly, hopeful. Sora felt warmth in his chest and looked over at Kairi, she was looking at him as well. Besides her Riku was staring at him as well, he winked, were they all feeling this energy inside of them? He hoped so, he hoped that this power was giving them all the confidence and assurance everyone no doubt needed. Without a word, they moved around the corner in a group and strode towards the familiar, massive, double doors. They looked very foreboding suddenly. Like the rest of the castle, they had changed into darker, grimmer, representations of themselves and as they approached, Sora swore that they were watching the group as they approached, and the lack of Heartless wasn't very reassuring for a change.

When Paine reached the door, she put her shoulder against it, nothing happened. She frowned at it for a moment before Auron put his shoulder against it as well and began to push, a moment later, Zack, Tifa, Cloud, and Leon joined them. Their combined muscle slowly began to move the door, which opened with a sickening screech as it ground on its hinges; Sora was certain that everything for miles around could hear the massive door and wondered what would be waiting on the other side for them. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo didn't seem inclined to wait for the answer as they ducked through as soon as there was a wide enough gap, Riku took a moment longer before following. Sora wasn't letting them go alone, he ducked in after them; his father patted him on the shoulder as he past.

"Good luck kiddo, we'll be there in a moment."

Sora nodded, joining the others beyond the door. It was pitch black and he had the unnerving feeling that this wasn't just a shadow cast by anything, it felt like pure darkness. It was the most unnerving feeling he'd ever had, like something was tugging at his heart and trying to bleed away his strength. Behind him, the door finally opened enough for the adults to follow, but despite the source of light, there was no change in the pitch black inside the room.

"Everyone stay close." Paine ordered, "do not lose yourself in here, I don't think we'd be able to find you if you wander off."

"You're quite right Lieutenant Commander," came a disembodied voice. "If anyone loses their way here, they'll simply become one of my Heartless. Can you find me before that happens? Stay too long and all of you, even the bearers, will lose hope." There was a cold chuckle then, "I hope you can make it to me in time though, I have someone I'm dying for you to meet. I think you'll really appreciate his unique skills."

"Xehanort," muttered Zack. "Is it just me or does he really like the sound of his own voice?"

"You've got no idea." Auron said his annoyance evident. "Come on, we've got to move quickly before we do lose anyone to these shadows."

Roxas felt for Namine's hand in the gloom, finding it he felt much more confident holding her. He began moving through the dark with everyone else. No one could see anything, but, well it was hard to explain. He could _feel _them near him, and feel when they moved off too, whenever someone else felt like they were moving away, another member of the group would call out to them, bringing them back to the fold. Some members seemed more prone to wandering in the shadows than others, the most common offenders were Paine and her sons, with Riku and Cloud seeming to get lost as well; but everyone's ebbing strength was fortified by their combined hearts, and there was one shining beacon in their midst. His uncle seemed all but unaffected by the shadows that wrapped around them all and clung like heavy cloaks.

For whatever reason, either because of his immersion in the world heart for so long, or simply because he was that strong willed and therefore his heart was that powerful, he seemed to have boundless energy and strength to give those around him. It was most frequently Auron who drew those that began to fall away from the group back into its safety. Roxas wondered if Leon and Sora had that same presence sleeping inside of them, it made him feel a little unsure of himself actually. He didn't feel anywhere near as strong as Auron seemed to be, it made him doubt, even as it gave him strength; but he could feel Namine's grip tightening even as he thought it, and knew that she believed in him, elsewhere in the group, he felt Sora, Kairi, and even Riku telling him the same. He was just as strong as any of them, and had to believe it.

After what seemed an eternity of slugging through the heavier and heavier presence of the shadows wrapping around them, things seemed to get lighter, not that the darkness was any clearer, but that the heaviness began to fade from the air. Had they finally made it through? The sense of relief that flooded through the group seemed to affirm this, but any relief flagged a sound struck them. A harsh and cruel clapping, each clap sounding like a thunder clash above their heads; Roxas swallowed tensely, wincing at the cruel soundings in the darkness. When the clapping finally ended, Xehanort's voice greeted them.

"Very good, you didn't lose anyone. But how long can that last, here, let me introduce you to my newest comrades."

The darkness fell away, and the throne chamber was suddenly lit as powerfully as it had been when the castle had still been a bastion of light instead of darkness.

"No…." Paine said meekly, sinking to her knees at the scene before them.

Roxas felt his insides ice over, this was beyond cruel, and the worst part was, he felt the despair that Paine felt seeping into his own heart. Could they really win now?

Author's Note: Since I promised one of my readers I would give a warning, the end really is approaching for real this time, as denoted by both that obnoxiously vague cliffhanger and the fact that I'm starting to use them more now. Don't worry, you'll hate me for it more when you see what happens next. I'm sorry for the slowdown, but I'm really trying to make each chapter good and not just rush off to the ending so it's taking a bit more time to hammer out the ideas...plus you know, life happens. So yes, the end is nigh and I hope you've enjoyed the journey.


	36. Chapter 33

Roxas stared, fear making an icy home in his chest as Xehanort continued to chuckle, his eyes focused on Paine.

"You see, after our first encounter in the King's chambers I realized that I hadn't killed him, and since he was still alive but very weak I decided I could make use of him. Now I admit it wasn't easy, he's remarkably strong willed and very powerful; but you'd be very surprised to know how dark his heart is, and once I found that, naturally the rest was easy."

He said it so casually; he might have been describing a simple class lesson for all the feeling put into it. The fact remained though, that Sephiroth was standing between them and Xehanort, his sword drawn and his eyes two gold glowing embers. The second man besides him in the red cloak with long black hair and red eyes was just as emotionless, though he looked far from calm, he seemed lost almost.

Xehanort, wearing Ansem the Wise's body smiled and indicated the second man. "Now I don't expect many of you to know my assistant. He's the one responsible for my return. I couldn't have done it without his help; you see Vincent isn't human anymore. He's one of my less successful yet still very potent experiments with the Heartless, combining a human with them. He's quite gifted really, even if a bit hard to control, I found actual Heartless a bit more malleable eventually though Vincent's use to me as a vessel was unexpected and welcome all at once."

Auron stood besides Paine, scowling at the gloating Xehanort as he perched upon the throne that had been Ansem's, sprawled across it leisurely as he watched the group.

Auron reached down and gripped Paine's shoulder. "Paine, I need you to stand."

When she didn't move, her eyes lost and forlorn as she stared at the thing that had been her husband, Auron's grip tightened. "Paine, get up _now._" His voice was cold, commanding and powerful.

Slowly, Paine stood, as if in a trance. "Tell me that you can beat him." Auron said quietly.

Roxas couldn't believe what he was hearing, Auron expected Paine to fight the man she loved? Was he insane? He watched as Paine slowly shook her head before finally speaking, her voice trembling.

"No, he was always better."

Auron's breath was a low hiss and he looked at Sephiroth quietly for a moment. "Alright then, we'll think of something."

Xehanort smirked at them confidently. "Oh, I think you'll find it quiet hard to survive what I have planned."

He waved his hand, and around the group, the white and black Heartless, calicos Auron had called them, materialized, there were at least thirty.

"I thought you said he couldn't control them." Riku spat angrily.

"He can't," Auron said flatly. "He's using Sephiroth and that poor assistant as wells to give himself a boost."

He was eying the calicos around them calmly. "Remember what I said, do not fight them one on one."

"This should be interesting." Zack said, despite the lighthearted comment, his voice sounded unsure and nervous.

Then he second man, Vincent, made his move, vanishing in a burst of shadows. Auron's head snapped around and then he too vanished in the same puff of smoke like shadow. The two met directly behind Rinoa who jumped out of the way, Vincent looked stunned as Auron's blade blocked what had been his arm, but was now a massive blade made out of darkness.

Auron smiled, "you didn't think you were the only one who knew how to do that did you?"

Vincent didn't say anything and vanished yet again, Auron turned to the group.

"I'll deal with him; if I can eliminate him then we might be able to disperse some of the calicos."

With that he vanished as well, the pair began popping in and out of existence all around the throne chamber, Xehanort actually started laughing.

"Oh now this is a surprise, it should provide me with some entertainment while the rest of you die."

"Don't think we'll be that easy to kill," Tifa said forcefully, her hands sizzling as her shock gloves glowed with lightening.

"Girl, you can't possibly hope to stand against Sephiroth _and _my calicos, now die."

And that was all the warning they got as first Sephiroth, and then the calicos charged. The resulting battle quickly dissolved into an all out free-for-all as Cloud and Zack faced Sephiroth, surprisingly they were able to keep him at bay while the others turned to face the calicos. Roxas swung his two blades, only to have one wrenched from his grasp and the other blocked, he summoned the first back to him immediately and just barely managed to deflect another blow. Besides him, Namine shouted out a spell and engulfed one in flames; Roxas stared as it burst apart in a shattering hiss, nearly getting his head taken off in his moment of distraction.

"Magic!" He screamed, "they can't stand up to magic!"

Spells began flying everywhere then, but for every calico that fell, it seemed two more appeared and attacked, physical strikes had no effect on them, and not even the keyblades did more than annoy them. It seemed that magic was the only way to beat them but if they kept on spawning more, then they'd gradually overwhelm the spells' abilities. Roxas felt despair sinking into his heart as he realized that, he felt something dark inside of him, and felt the same thing in those around him. Why was this happening to them? What had they done to deserve this? The questions and doubts flowed into his mind and fueled the darkness building inside of him; his chest began to burn fiercely and it felt like the fire would consume his entire being.

There was a cry from somewhere behind him, and her turned long enough to see Zack flying through the air, he slammed into a pillar and sank to the ground where he lay in a motionless heap. That left Cloud alone against Sephiroth, Roxas beat back the latest calico and turned to see his brother being beaten back, then there was a loud squawk and Red charged Sephiroth who spun on his heel and swung with his blade. One moment Red was charging at Sephiroth, the next there was a headless corpse charging into the forest of pillars aimlessly. Roxas felt his heart wrench at seeing Red go, but it wasn't in vain, it gave Cloud the chance he needed and he drove his blade into Sephiroth's exposed flank, sending the older man staggering away, several of the calicos began to falter, and after a moment they even began attacking their brethren.

Paine and Kadaj both rushed to Sephiroth in the sudden lull from the Heartless assault and tried to help him, there was a brief pause and then Kadaj cried out as Sephiroth put his blade through Paine's stomach wordlessly with a vicious smile on his face before he sagged over. Rinoa rushed to the pair and began doing what she could for them, Cloud stood over them with Kadaj, keeping the remaining calicos at bay. There was an earthly howl of pain and anguish then and Roxas felt the fire inside him heating up again, he couldn't control it any longer and he felt two other flames raging near him, what was happening?

Then Auron's voice boomed from somewhere in the mass of columns. "Get away from those three now!"

Roxas didn't understand what was happening but he heard Xehanort's cruel laughter echoing inside his mind, and that only served to fuel whatever was consuming him. He felt the keyblades vanish, heard someone scream his name, and then nothing else, his mind was engulfed in shadows and blood.

Roxas tried to open his eyes, but his lids felt heavy. Someone brushed his hair back over his head and spoke softly to him. He recognized Namine's voice and forced his eyes open, the light was painful.

"Wha-what happened?" He asked her worried face.

She looked away for a moment, fear in her expression before she spoke. "You, Sora, and Riku were shadow lost all at once."

Roxas didn't quite understand what that meant, "what happened?" He asked again, still confused.

"Sephiroth is normal," she frowned. "Well as normal as he can be…he nearly killed Paine, that's what brought him back, his heart couldn't take it and he broke whatever hold Xehanort had on him."

"What about Xehanort?"

He's gone and he took that man, Vincent with him, when you three were lost."

"Wait, what about the calicos?"

"Roxas, you, Sora, and Riku killed them all." There was terror in her voice as she said this, and he realized that she was really afraid, not for him, but of him.

He frowned, looking around him for the first time as he propped himself up. Sora was sitting next to Red's headless body, stroking the blood stained feathers with Kairi holding him gently. Riku was with his family; Paine was laid out on the floor, a smile on her face, as if by saving her husband from the shadows, even her death would make her happy. Sephiroth was standing with his sons and nephew silently; his massive shape dwarfing them all as he looked at Paine numbly. Auron was with Leon, Cloud, Rinoa, Tifa, and Zack, Rinoa was tending to Zack who looked like he'd broken both his legs considering the odd angles they were at. Just what had happened? There was no sign of the Heartless, Xehanort, or Vincent.

"What happens next?" He asked, he felt very tired and exhausted, and he still wasn't entirely sure what he had done. Then he blinked and saw the healing cut across Namine's shoulder, arcing down towards her chest.

"What happened to you?"

She smiled a little, kissing his cheek. "I wouldn't leave you, so you attacked me."

"I did what?" He yelled, drawing a few glances from the others.

Namine put a finger to his lips, "it's not your fault, you lost control. Sora almost killed Kairi, she had to stab him with her keyblade; and Sephiroth had to practically break Riku's arm to get him under control."

"What did you do?" Roxas asked worriedly, looking at the gash on her shoulder still.

"When I was able to get to you, I just held on tight and kept telling you that I loved you." She smiled, "eventually you came back, but you kept tearing at me." She indicated the cut on her shoulder, "this was a lot bigger before Rinoa was able to get to me, and there are others."

He pulled her close, tears stinging his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

She stroked his hair gently, leaning against him. "It isn't your fault, don't worry about it okay? I love you, I wasn't going to lose you to the shadows, I'd come for you no matter what."

He nodded, "I love you Namine."

She smiled, kissing him gently. "I know."

"Sora, he did it for everyone. He helped to save all of us." Kairi said comfortingly, though the words had little effect on Sora's feelings of lose.

"I know," he murmured, but it still hurt, even knowing that she was right. Red was like family, and he was gone now.

"Hey kiddo, how are you doing?"

Sora looked up at his dad as Auron knelt down next to him, sitting cross-legged before the dead chocobo.

"You were very lucky to have a friend like this, and I'm sure he knew what he was doing even at the very end. He gave his life so that you would have yours."

Auron bowed his head for a moment, then clapped his hands together and murmured something quietly, his head still bowed towards Red.

Sora frowned, "what is that?"

Auron finished and smiled gently, "you don't recognize it?"

"I do." Kairi said, sounding a little surprised. "You were a monk?"

He snorted and stood, "not quite, but I did serve in the last war, and learned more prayers for the dead than most monks probably know."

He put a hand on Sora's shoulder, "your friend did a noble thing, don't forget it, and honor his sacrifice. As soon as you're ready come join the others. We still have to get Xehanort."

Sora nodded, holding his father's hand briefly before looking at Kairi with a sad smile, she hugged him.

"I'm sorry for stabbing you."

He nodded, leaning against her. "You had to do it, I might have hurt someone otherwise….I guess it's time to go."

They stood together, Sora took one last look at Red, kneeling down and nuzzling against the soft feathers.

"'bye Red….thank you for everything…I'll make it up to you; I promise."

He and Kairi headed back to the others, Leon went to Sora and hugged him tightly. Auron waited a moment while Namine and Roxas joined the group as well before speaking.

"Xehanort and his friend went down beneath the castle into the old catacombs where his lab was originally, I imagine the heart is down there too. They were kind enough to leave a door open behind the thrown so we're going to follow them of course."

He looked at Sephiroth, "I don't expect everyone to come, and some of us have other priorities. Rinoa, I'm going to ask you to stay here to keep an eye on Paine and Zack, everyone else," he took a breath, a grim smile setting in. "Let's finish this."


	37. Chapter 34

The passage way behind the throne was narrow and wound down into the depths of the structure. Sora had the unnerving feeling that the passage was very much aware of their movement and was keeping a close eye on them. The worst part was that as the party moved, there was an audible scraping sound from beyond the wall. As if the Heartless were just on the other side of the wall and following their movements downwards. Red's death was still fresh in his mind, and despite what his father, and Kairi had done to try and give him some sense of peace on the matter, the fact remained that his chocobo, because Red really had been his to him, was dead. Roxas squeezed past Namine and Kairi to stand behind him.

"Hey, are you doing okay?" His cousin asked gently.

Sora nodded, not looking back as Roxas reached over and took his hand tightly. It was almost as comforting as Kairi's touch, more so in some strange manner since it was far more familiar than Kairi's embrace.

"I'm going to miss him." Sora murmured.

Roxas smiled a little, "maybe you can ask Laguna for another bird, I'm sure he has a few that he can spare from the stables considering everything that's happened."

Assuming he's still alive Sora thought, but he didn't say that, instead he said: "There's not another like Red, I don't think I want to have another chocobo."

Roxas nodded, "sorry, I was just trying to cheer you up."

Sora squeezed Roxas' hand, "thanks…I'll be okay."

Again Roxas nodded, falling back behind Sora as the group wound their way down the dimly glowing stairwell he wondered to himself just what Sora would do, if he'd withdraw from everyone around him. Roxas hoped not, but he knew that if Sora did, he'd have Kairi, Roxas, and Namine, not to mention their older brothers to dig him out of any hole he got into. That was what family was for wasn't it? Sora meanwhile began moving forwards, pushing past Leon and Tifa and up to his father, he reached out slowly and took his father's arm. Auron looked down at him for a moment, frowning slightly before pausing in his descent to lift Sora up in his arms. Despite being a bit large to be carried around, Auron held him easily in one arm as if he were a child as he continued to descend. Sora began to cry quietly, leaning against his father's shoulder.

Auron's voice was gentle, "its okay kiddo, and I know it hurts, but you'll be fine I promise."

Sora just closed his eyes against the tears and held on tightly as Auron continued to lead the way down into the gloom.

"Will he be alright?" Namine asked quietly.

"I think so," Roxas murmured, he wished that he had a better answer for her, but he just wasn't certain. He remembered how badly he'd taken Rikku's death, and he hadn't even been that close to her. Red had slowly become like family in a way, probably more so for Sora whom the big chocobo had judiciously followed and occasionally obeyed. He looked downward around the curve of the stairwell and spied Sora clinging to Auron like a child and felt his heart wrench.

"I'm worried about Kairi," murmured Namine, glancing back at her sister who was being very quiet for a change.

Roxas frowned and glanced back for a moment. "What's the matter?"

Namine gave him an irritated look before sighing, "Sora's not going to her for comfort or anything. In fact he's almost avoiding her, and she already feels guilty about stabbing him. How do you think she's feeling now that he's gone up to his father instead of back to her?"

Roxas' frown deepened, "you can't expect him to not go to his dad, he hasn't seen him since he was ten remember? And you told me that they'd always been close so of course he's going to go to Uncle Auron."

"That's not the point," Namine said snippily. "Kairi is going to feel that Sora doesn't like her or something silly like that."

"I think you're overreacting Namine, just give him some time and he'll be alright, and so will Kairi."

Namine looked less than satisfied but she didn't press the matter further as they continued to walk, Roxas was surprised that she hadn't argued the point more, and it wasn't that he didn't believe that she was right about Kairi, it was that there was nothing they could do about it at the moment. It wasn't like they could go up and drag Sora off of Auron and throw him at Kairi and everything would be better, though the image was a bit funny he had to admit. It was then that he noticed how hot it was starting to get, and humid too, he was beginning to sweat as well. Looking around in the dim light he saw that the masonry and stonework was being replaced by metal pipes and girders slowly, gradually. Steam rose from cracks in the pipes and drifted upwards and water clung to every surface like a thick film. Even breathing began to feel like he was drinking, just what were they walking into?

The procession stopped as the stairwell gave way to a narrow hallway with a heavy door at the far end; Auron put Sora down and moved forwards. He paused by the door and looked at Leon and Yazoo, motioning for them to take positions on either side of the door. They did, and he shouldered his sword with one hand and braced himself; then with one powerful kick, sent the door flying off its hinges, Yazoo and Leon ducked through the opening, casters drawn and searching around the room. The chamber they stepped into was bizarrely lit by a rainbow of colors and lights, it was almost painful and all around them were more of the steaming pipes that Roxas had seen in their descent. At the far end, was a raised platform, upon which at least a dozen capsules sat high in the walls surrounded by mazes of pipes.

Each of the capsules contained what looked like a withered husk that may at one point in time been human. Now though they were just floating scarecrows with tubes stuck in them. Roxas wondered if they were even alive.

"There," Cloud said pointing upwards.

Roxas followed his finger and heard Namine gasp. High above them in the ceiling was a heart shaped metal and glass work that glowed brilliantly and seemed almost to pulsate with power and energy.

As they began walking towards the far end of the room, Roxas noticed more of the capsules containing their withered inhabitants imbedded on the walls and either side of them, he looked at all the piping, and then up at the ceiling again where the heart hung.

"They're feeding it," he murmured.

"This is sick," Tifa said, she was standing in front of a capsule, her hand pressed against the glass as she looked at the poor soul trapped inside.

"We'll put them out of their misery once this is over." Kadaj said simply.

The idea of killing these helpless victims made Roxas feel queasy, but looking at their shriveled and atrophied limbs and gaunt, sunken faces made him certain that would be the kindest thing to do.

"I can't believe he created all this beneath the castle," Auron muttered, he sounded annoyed. "I never even knew this was here and I was supposed to be watching him."

"These people, they're suffering so much." Namine whispered besides Roxas.

He nodded, taking her hand tightly; he looked around for Sora curiously as he realized that his cousin wasn't with Auron. He spied him behind the group, standing besides one of the capsules, his keyblade drawn and strangely glowing, Riku was besides him, his own keyblade behaving in the same manner.

"Sora?" Roxas called curiously.

Sora looked over at Roxas, "we can set them free."

"Huh?" Loz muttered, turning around, "what on earth are you talking about?"

Sora shook his head, obviously confused. "I can't explain it, but something tells me that the bearers can put them to rest peacefully…I just feel it."

Riku nodded slowly. "I agree, I'm getting the same feeling."

Loz and Yazoo looked at each other, both smiling derisively, Kadaj however nodded.

"If Riku says it'll work I'll trust him, it sounds kinder than what I had in mind anyways."

"Just what did you have in mind?" Loz asked with a smirk.

Kadaj shrugged, "blow them to pieces."

Loz gave an exaggerated nod, "well that would certainly be effective."

"Company," Cloud said tersely.

Everyone turned to where Cloud, Leon, and Auron were standing ahead of the group. At the far end of the room, Xehanort was sitting with his legs crossed, leaning his head on one arm regarding them quietly, Vincent was standing besides him, his red eyes glowing dangerously.

"Marvelous isn't it?" Xehanort said with a smile. "All this power, in one place under my command; I originally wanted to use the world heart itself, but I knew that if it was ever sealed I would need my own heart otherwise it would take years of more work to unlock the heart again. So I made this," he gestured upwards towards the glowing heart; "just in case and it seems that case was certainly true."

He leaned forwards, Ansem's familiar smile looking very sinister under Xehanort's control. "That fool of a King never saw the potential in all of this, he said it was too dangerous and worse that it endangered the people. So short sighted," he shook his head. "In order to understand the power of the heart, its necessary for certain sacrifices to be made. You've all proven yourselves capable, even the bearers, mere children, are quite powerful. You could all share in this power I've found."

"We'll pass," Auron said calmly. "I have a promise to the King that requires that you die to fulfill it." He looked over his shoulder at everyone else. "Does anyone else feel differently?"

"No thanks," Cloud said simply.

"I'm not going to do anything without Cloud." Tifa said besides him.

"He might be a bastard," Leon said, glancing at Auron who smiled quietly, "but you did kill my father and I don't think I could work for someone after that."

"You tried to kill mother and bend father to your will," growled Yazoo, "you're dead." His brothers stood closely to him, their faces equally vicious.

Riku was standing with Namine, Kairi, Sora and Roxas. "We were all born and destined to fight you and protect the heart, what reason could we possibly have to join you?" None of them disagreed with him.

Auron's smile was cold as he turned back to Xehanort with a shrug, "it looks like you're going to have to face us all."

Xehanort stood, walking about the throne-like, his face darkened in a scowl. "You're all ignorant fools; I will wipe you all from this world and write my new order with your blood."

His eyes glinted, and his body seemed to catch on fire as shadows consumed him. Vincent stepped aside as if to give him room. The shadows wrapped around Xehanort like a cocoon, Roxas felt the temperature in the massive chamber drop significantly, and summoned his keyblades with a snap, two more snaps broke the quiet as Namine and Kairi called forth their own blades. The cocoon burst then, and Xehanort, no longer in the King's body rose from the shadows, massive wings lofting him upwards, his mouth drawing back unnaturally revealing sharpened fangs, his arms had altered as well, they were now massive structures, ending in clawed hands that dripped with shadowy residue.

"Die," Xehanort boomed, raising his arms.

The room shook, and then vanished, Roxas' head bolted in every direction as dozens, then hundreds, and maybe even thousands, of chattering, skittering, and hissing Heartless appeared around them. They were no longer in the chamber either, they were in some kind of twilight, everything was gray and there didn't seem to be any floors, walls, or ceilings. He and all the others just seemed to be standing in the air with Heartless all around them, above, below, in front, behind, left, and right. The staggering number of Heartless was matched by their diversity, Roxas counted dozens of different forms, some flying, some standing, some floating, and their sizes were just as varied, there were several that towered over the rest and rose as high as a two story house. He swallowed nervously, unsure of what to do next.

Then he felt it, the same feeling he had in the darkness when they'd first come for Xehanort, that feeling of community, of strength, of hope. Now though, there were other presences, not just those here with him. He could feel Paine, Zack, Rinoa and Sephiroth. Further away, but burning powerfully Maleficent; beyond that he could feel even more, he felt Cid, Rikku, and Yuna, Laguna was with them; feeling them alive filled his heart with joy. Beyond them he could feel more still, Merlin, Mim, Julia, Yuffie, and Aerith. And further still and perhaps most surprisingly, he felt his parents' presence, along with Pence, Hayner, Ollete, Seifer, Ryu, Zexion, Larxene, Axel, Demyx, and Fuu; and there were uncountable multitudes of other presences that he didn't even recognize. Was the entire world coming together to give them the strength to fight? It certainly felt that way.

"Do you feel it?" He asked.

"We can do this." Sora murmured, his previous mood seemingly washed away, his voice strong, he sounded strangely like Auron actually.

Kairi nodded, taking his hand tightly with her free hand, "we have everyone behind us we can't fail."

Namine smiled happily, "this is what we're meant to do."

Riku snorted and shook his head, "we've all lost our minds, but at least we've got the strength we need."

"You will lose more than your minds by the time this is over bearers, you are all going to fall here to my power, there is nothing, not even the wills of all those you love and treasure, that can stop that." Xehanort boomed.

"We'll see," Auron said calmly, his sword swung characteristically over his shoulder . "I think you'll be surprised by just how strong we are."

Out of the mass of Heartless, Vincent stepped silently, one arm a massive blade, while the other was a tube like caster that glowed menacingly. His eyes glowered with power as he approached.

"You are all just as lost to the shadows as I am, accept it and perish."

With that, the Heartless screeched as one and rushed inwards towards the group, Roxas' heart leapt out of his chest, but he could feel everyone supporting him and everyone else. For once in all this insanity, he was calm and ready for anything. They could win.

Author's Note: Holy crap that took longer than expected, and for some reason I had Zack in there for a moment before I realized he wasn't actually with this group and gave his lines to other people. If anyone catches Zack anywhere but in the end when Roxas feels everyone...that sounds wrong....let me know, I tried to catch them all but you never know; but in the end, I actually like this chapter quite a bit. Feels quite satisfying don't you think? Wouldn't it be funny if I just decided to leave the story here and let you lot figure out what happened in the end? That would be quite evil.


	38. Chapter 35

Sora ducked out of the way as Cloud swung both his blades, he'd taken Zack's weapon, and cleaved the massive heartless into pieces before leaping upwards to slam into another Heartless mercilessly dicing its wings before cutting it in half. Sora raised his blade and yelled out a spell, lifting up a massive cloud of Heartless before crushing them within and orb of force.

"Sora," he heard his father bellow and felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and pull him away.

Where he'd been standing, Vincent appeared, his face darkening in annoyance as his kill was stolen from him yet again. Sora felt his father's hand disappear as Vincent vanished in another furling cloud of shadows, the pair had been doing this dance since the battle had begun and neither showed any signs of weakening, Sora had no idea how they were keeping up with one another since they seemingly vanished and reappeared at random in all sorts of places. So far, Auron had managed to stay just ahead of Vincent and the latter hadn't been able to so much as scratch anyone with any of his attacks. Sora cut through another Heartless, and then he heard the familiar burst fired caster shots that signified his brother was nearby. He cast his gaze around furtively and saw Leon dropping towards him; he barely had time to react as his brother caught him in mid-flight and dragged him downwards.

This was such a strange place. It both possessed gravity, and yet seemed weightless. You could literally walk upwards as if ascending a flight of stairs and yet be stepping on nothing at all. By the same token you could go flying in the vertical plane the way he and his brother were currently doing as if you had been thrown out of Cid's airship.

"Now," Leon called.

He released Sora, and they both turned towards the pursuing mass of Heartless, Sora called out a fireball spell while Leon fired what looked like a small sun out of his caster, the two spells slammed into their pursuers and they disintegrated in the resulting explosion. Leon spun around in the air and landed on all fours, rolling to his feet. Sora landed next to him, but then Leon was in the air again, slashing his next foe with the blade of his caster, leaving Sora alone once more. There were so many Heartless it had proven impossible to maintain any cohesion as a unit, especially when Auron had started throwing people out of Vincent's path. At that point it had degraded into a free-for-all with occasional bouts of teamwork like what he and Leon had done. Sora could still feel the presence of everyone burning inside him and keeping him from falling over from exhaustion.

It was such a strange, yet comforting feeling, and the fact that the people he knew, even those like Seifer who he disliked. After everything that had happened these past weeks he couldn't fairly say he hated Seifer, or any of his gang. They were just sandlot bullies, Xehanort was actually full blown evil and the two couldn't share the same spectrum of emotion in Sora's mind, the worst Seifer had ever done was send Sora, Roxas, or one of their friends home with a bloodied nose or a split lip. Even Larxene had never killed anyone the way Xehanort had so offhandedly done. He bolted out of the way as Loz came rocketing past with Tifa, the two gripped their hands and spun in a circle, using their feet to kick out at the Heartless around them as they spiraled downwards. Sora pushed off, slashing through another enemy.

There was a flash off to one side and he spied Yazoo firing madly in every direction, standing back to back with Kadaj, he fired an ice blast, freezing the Heartless facing Kadaj as he rose past them, the momentary lull let the pair kick-off and catch up with Sora.

"Thanks," Kadaj said grudgingly.

"Have you seen Xehanort?" Sora asked quickly.

Yazoo fired a shot point blank into the mouth of a large feline Heartless which shrieked and fell away. "Not yet, he's a coward."

Sora nodded, pushing himself sideways, he landed against one of the huge winged Heartless, Kadaj landed next to him and dug his twin bladed sword into the monster's spine and began running upwards, and tearing open it's back as he went. Sora followed slashing the wound open more as the pair ran upwards. Roxas appeared next to him as he leapt of the head of the dying Heartless, his twin keyblades glowing vibrantly.

"Have you seen the girls?" He asked desperately.

Sora shook his head; any answer was forestalled as a wyvern-like Heartless dove at him, slamming its head into his stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Its teeth flashed and tried to eviscerate him, the only thing between its teeth and his inside was the keyblade jammed between its jaws. Tifa landed on its back a moment later and slammed her fist into its back, electricity coursed over its body and it spasmed, its hold on Sora's keyblade slackening. He shoved it back and kicked upwards, calling out a thank you to Tifa as he sped away, there was a moment of calm around Sora and he took the moment to try and find everyone. He saw Kadaj and Yazoo, Roxas was by himself, but a moment later Riku shot out of a throng of Heartless and joined him. Leon, Cloud, and Loz were together and Tifa was still below him. He caught his father pop back into existence, followed a moment later by Vincent, the two clashed yet again then vanished once more.

Tifa rose up besides him, "you okay?"

He nodded, his face set worriedly. "I don't see Namine or Kairi."

Tifa rolled over and kicked a Heartless in the head, sending it away in a twitching bundle throwing a fireball spell that burst it into flames. "We're beginning to thin them down some, a bit ago we wouldn't have had this much breathing room."

Sora nodded absently as he continued to search for the girls, he spied a thick crowd of Heartless and rotated, kicking himself off of the air and rocketing towards the gathering. He slashed through the first few Heartless before their numbers stopped him, he felt something cut into his arm and realized he'd made a mistake. Then everything seemed to slow down, he looked up to see Tifa, her face strained with the effort, casting a temporal spell. Hurriedly he hacked his way free of the Heartless, now slowed down to just a fraction of their normal speed. Then they were back to normal, almost as quickly as they'd slowed down and Sora again had to push himself free of their mass.

Two more keyblades flashed then and he breathed a sigh of relief as Kairi and Namine came out swinging and casting spells from within the horde. Both were bruised but there was nothing injured about how they fought. Kairi took one instant to kiss Sora on the cheek before slicing another Heartless in half.

"Tifa!"

Sora turned upwards at Leon's voice and saw Tifa floating limply, a moment later Kadaj caught her as he soared past and pulled her floating body away from the battle.

"I'll take care of her," he called to them, "give us some room."

"Sora, give me your hand!" Namine called.

He grabbed her hand, Kairi grabbed his and it felt suddenly like a wind tunnel had opened up around them. Lances of ice shot out from all directions and skewered the Heartless around them, and once they were dealt with the hail of icy spears worked outwards, soon the Heartless were beyond any control as their instinct to flee and preserve themselves took over and they began to pop out of existence. When Namine released Sora's hand, panting heavily, there was only a handful of the Heartless left. Sora felt as worn as Namine looked, and Kairi seemed to have faired just as badly; but he could feel the energy from the others giving him renewed strength. He looked up to see Kadaj holding a glowing hand over Tifa, she stretched and rolled upright shaking her head in a daze.

"No, Dad!"

Leon's voice brought Sora's gaze downwards and he gave a cry of his own, Auron and Vincent were locked together, Vincent's sword arm was through Auron's left shoulder, and Auron had his own sword imbedded up the barrel of Vincent's caster arm. Auron was bleeding badly while Vincent seemed completely unphased by the wound and was trying to free his blade from Auron's shoulder. He finally wrenched it free with one great surge of strength, Auron cried out in pain, gritting his teeth as Vincent lifted the blade and brought it down towards Auron's chest. Sora clenched his eyes shut and kicked, even as he surged downwards he knew he couldn't get there in time; he didn't want to watch this. There was a howl of pain and he opened his eyes, staring in surprise, his own shock mirrored on Vincent's face as he stared at the keyblade sticking from his chest.

Roxas let out a long sigh, and sank to his knees, he'd never thrown his blade that far before. He'd even used his own will to guide the blade to its target: Vincent's back, right between the shoulder blades. He felt his body trembling at the exertion it had taken to keep the blade from returning to him like it had wanted to; he felt his vitality being restored by the energy of everyone supporting them and picked himself up. Pushing towards Vincent and Auron, the latter had freed himself from the former and was watching as Vincent writhed and howled in pain. He arrived just as Sora floated down besides his father; the others joined them a moment later.

Auron freed his sword from Vincent's arm, watching as his body began to change back into a more human form, he looked at Roxas thankfully.

"Get that blade out of him, it's killing him."

Roxas summoned the blade back, and Vincent stopped screaming, slumping over and breathing heavily as blood finally began seeping from his wounds.

"You…killed me, I'm…free?" He said, looking up at Auron, his eyes were no longer red and he seemed much more human suddenly, he even seemed relieved.

Auron knelt down, leaning Vincent on his back as he breathed laboriously, his blood pooling beneath his body.

Vincent grabbed Auron's tunic and pulled him close, "kill him, destroy him, do not let him do this to anyone else…."

His grip slackened as his words rattled out with his breath as his eyes closed and he sunk back, his chest slowly ceasing to rise; then his body burst into the shadowy fire that he'd used to move around before and he vanished. Auron stood up and looked at his own wound as Tifa began tending to it.

"He couldn't fight it, that entire time, I couldn't save him."

"What are you talking about?" Leon asked in annoyance, he looked worried sick and it occurred to Roxas that he'd actually been frightened for his father despite his distant demeanor.

"When you shadow shift like that, you're no longer physical, you're pure, unbridled emotion. So long as you can keep your heart strong you're in no danger but you can get lost if you're not able to retain your emotions. Your memories fade and you become a Heartless."

He looked down where Vincent's blood still pooled, "this poor boy was in pain, terrified and desperate, but unable to escape the hold that Xehanort had on him. I tried to unravel Xehanort's hold on him during the battle but I couldn't. The Heartless part of him was too much a part of his being."

His gaze flicked to Roxas, "that keyblade separated the Heartless from him, broke Xehanort's control and let him go free; in a way you gave him what he most desired, good work."

Roxas didn't feel like he'd done good work though he felt no remorse over saving Auron. Heartless or not, Vincent had looked human enough and it bothered him a little to think about killing another human being with his blade. Namine took his hand tightly and smiled at him, kissing his shoulder softly. He felt worlds better after that as she leaned against him.

"I still don't see Xehanort." Cloud muttered, his eyes scanning the vastness around them.

Roxas looked around too, and realized that Cloud was right; there was no one else here. Just their group, not even a single Heartless remained anywhere that he could see. Where was Xehanort? Then the world turned upside down, and they were suddenly back in the heart chamber, only they weren't on the floor, they were in the air. They dropped like rag dolls to the ground with shouts and cries of pain. Roxas pushed Kadaj off of him, the latter cursing and trying to get Tifa's chest off his face. There was a cold, steady clapping then and Roxas rolled over to see Xehanort standing again on the raised platform, clapping and smiling eerily, worse than the eerie expression was the fact that he was still transformed and his hands bore the massive claws from before.

"Congratulations, you've beaten everything I've been able to throw at you; now you're finally able to fight me directly."

He spread his hands apart, the ground shook and everyone screamed as black spikes shot from the ground and impaled them, lifting them off the floor and into the air. Yazoo, Cloud, and Tifa were able to get airborne, but spikes shot from the walls and got them in mid-jump. Roxas felt his heart clench as he realized who was still left: himself, Sora, Namine, Kairi, and Riku. Xehanort's smile was cruel as he beckoned them with a clawed hand.

"Come bearers, the longer you take, the more pain they'll be in; the only way you can save them is if you kill me. So come, come try your luck."

"Sora," Leon groaned, "don't worry about us, kill him."

Roxas felt terror clenching his chest as he looked up at Cloud, his brother was staring at him silently; his gaze intense and commanding and Roxas hated what they were saying: leave them here, and fight. He shook his head, but Cloud just stared back at him with the same intensity. Roxas remembered the conversation they'd had after Rikku had died and swallowed biting his lip and nodding nervously. A smile crossed Cloud's face and his expression softened. Roxas looked at the others; all of them were looking at the five bearers with the same expressions. Roxas turned and found the other four there with him, they had to do this. As one they turned towards Xehanort who was still smiling insanely, relishing the pain he was causing as they came towards him.

Xehanort spread his hands, and something that looked like glass spread out from him and passed over Roxas and the others, it ended in a dome like shape and encircled them all.

Xehanort chuckled coldly. "There, that way if anyone does get free, they will not be able to interfere. Come bearers," he rose up on his wings, spreading his arms out invitingly. "Let us see which is stronger, the Light, or the Shadows."

Author's Note: Hmm....well that turned out a little differently than expected but here we go everyone, now the crescendo (this is the part where V raises his arms and everything blows up). So yeah, here we go, Vincent is gone, everyone who could interfere has been stuck (like a pig I might add) and it's all down to the bearers. God I hate when the world depends on a bunch of kids don't you? So cliche.


	39. Chapter 36

Xehanort floated above them, his wings beating powerfully, keeping him aloft as he considered them.

"Do you know the nature of the heart bearers? Do you know the nature of the thing that you fight for?"

None of them answered, and Xehanort chuckled, "it is despair, darkness, pain, and suffering. Shadow is what the heart is, not light. You are fighting for the wrong ideals. Light is not the answer, none of what you've been fighting for is the true nature of the heart."

"You're wrong." Sora said, Xehanort examined him as he might an insect.

"Oh?"

"The heart isn't anything like that, if it were, then why would it let my dad come back? You killed him, and yet he's been fighting alongside us all this time. Nothing dark could do something like that."

Xehanort chuckled and shook his head. "So he hasn't told you about the toll this is taking on him, how quaint."

"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, clenching Sora's free hand.

"Your father, boy, is pushing the limits of what the heart will allow in any being bound to it. Haven't you sensed it? He's faded, if he keeps on cheating his heart's passing like this he'll vanish entirely. I suppose that must be what you would call love; he's risking his very existence for you and your precious world. It might be quite touching if it weren't so pathetic, instead of conquering the heart; he is working with its limits." Xehanort snorted derisively, "stupidity at its finest."

"You're lying," Sora murmured though he sounded less than certain as he remembered the whispered conversation he'd tried to hear between his father and brother.

Xehanort shrugged, dismissing Sora with a wave. "I am not here to pander to your delusions bearer; however I am here to offer you a final chance to join me. We can make this world ours. With the power of the keyblades behind me I can topple anything, even the heart if it stands in our path."

Riku snorted and smirked confidently, bringing his blade up in a guard. "You're just frightened, you know you can't beat us and so you're trying to bring us over to you to save your own sorry self; pathetic."

Xehanort ignored him and cast his eyes around the others questioningly. "Are any of you willing to take that leap of faith? That final act of bravery to join me in righting this world and letting the heart express its true feelings?"

The response he got was Sora and Kairi moving closer together, hands clasped as they starred at him defiantly.

Namine put both her arms around Roxas, "I already have all I need in the world right here."

Roxas blushed but didn't protest, both his keyblades shimmering brilliantly as Namine held him.

Riku stood between the two couples smiling confidently. "I've already faced the shadows and come back, I don't want what they can offer me."

Xehanort twitched slightly and he cast a hand towards them, "very well bearers, then you shall die."

The same spikes from earlier erupted from the floor and tried to lance them, but Riku had been ready for exactly that and he struck the ground hard with his keyblade and a barrier came up, shattering the sharpened stakes as they tried to find their targets. Roxas, Sora, Namine, and Kairi all readied their own blades and charged at Xehanort lifted higher into the air. Roxas leapt after him and swung with both blades, one of Xehanort's wings flashed out and caught the strike and deflected it easily.

Xehanort laughed heartily, "foolish boy, you cannot beat me."

"Roxas duck!" Kairi yelled, Roxas flipped in midair and she swung her blade, "wind cutter!"

Roxas felt the sharpened air slice past him, missing him by just hairs; they slammed into Xehanort's chest and grated against his armored skin. He growled furiously and cast his wings at Kairi, a ripple of shadows tore towards her, Roxas landed in front of her and cross his blades instinctively. The shadows hit his blades and swept up and over them like waves around a rock. Roxas blinked in surprise, he hadn't expected that in the slightest.

"My turn," he heard Sora call and watched his cousin rush by, Riku alongside him, both jumped up and slashed at Xehanort who closed both his wings around his body. The keyblades grated in a shower of sparks off of the hardened membranes. Roxas watched as Riku ran up Xehanort's wing and dove from behind, cutting across his back. Xehanort howled furiously and cast a clawed hand around to slash at Riku, but he'd already leapt away and was readying another attack when shadowy hands reached up from the floor and began pulling him downwards. He gave a shout and tried to slash at them but they restrained him, pinning him to the floor with hardly any effort.

"Riku!" Namine called and began chopping away the dark arms, they lashed out at her but she cast a fire spell and incinerated any that came towards her.

"Hey watch it! I don't want to get cooked!" Riku shouted as he got an arm loose and tore himself free.

"Stop crying," Namine said, "do you want to be singed or crushed?"

Riku didn't answer, shoving her out of the way as Xehanort slammed into the ground where they had been standing. Roxas took the chance to charge forwards and attempt to get at Xehanort's head; something shot out from Xehanort's back though and wrapped around Roxas' throat, slamming him back and forth across the floor, dragging him every which way as he gasped for air. Sora jumped onto the flailing limb and began hacking at it, hanging on with one arm as it lashed across the fighting ground. Around them, the girls and Riku slashed at Xehanort and cast spells in an attempt to slow him down.

Roxas felt the grip around his neck loosen and he yanked himself free and watched as Sora let go, sailing into the air. His relief at being free turned to horror as one of Xehanort's fingers extended outwards and lanced through Sora's chest, pinning him to the wall of the dome they were trapped in. He fell as the finger withdrew and slammed into the ground where he lay, unmoving. Roxas ran to him, rolling him over and lifting him up. He saw Kairi coming towards them, fear etched in her face as she dodged Xehanort's fury. Roxas waved her away, she paused for just a moment then nodded fearfully as she turned back to help her sister and Riku.

Roxas looked down at Sora, his eyes were closed but he was still breathing at least, he pressed his hand to the wound and tried to visualize and believe that it was healing. Nothing happened. He clenched his eyes shut and tried yet again, gritting his teeth and still he felt nothing. He cursed himself, how could he not believe he could save his cousin? He had to believe it; he didn't have any other choice. Something warm surged through him; he didn't pay attention to it at first assuming it was just another burst from everyone that had been supporting them up to this point; but something felt different about this and he opened his eyes and nearly screamed as a ghostly white hand touched his face soothingly.

Sora's mother, Aria, smiled at him quietly, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly though somehow it was soothing as Roxas placed the words from his memories of his aunt. She looked down at Sora, taking him in her lap and placing her palms on his chest. Roxas watched in fascination as the wound closed, Aria looked at Roxas, still smiling, reaching out again and brushing his face lovingly, her mouth opening again in silent speech. She lifted Sora up and kissed his forehead tenderly, brushing her hand over his messy hair; Roxas' jaw hung open as the silvery image of his aunt melted into Sora's body.

Sora's eyes flickered open and he looked up at Roxas with a frown. "What happened?"

Roxas shook his head. "I'm not sure."

His cousin still looked very confused as he picked himself up and looked at Xehanort and the others.

"Roxas, we can do this, I know what to do."

"Huh?" Roxas said, then he realized that Sora was literally glowing, the same silvery light that had been given off by Aria.

Sora's smile was confident as he held out his hand, "give me your hand; trust me."

Roxas hesitated for a moment, before reaching out and taking Sora's offered hand. The silver glow spread from Sora's fingers to his and up his arm. At first he was calm, and then he screamed as he realized that his hand and Sora's were melding into each other and slowly fusing.

Sora grabbed the back of his head with his other hand and pulled him close. "Trust me, we'll be fine."

Roxas nodded tightly, watching in horror as their bodies began to blend together, obscuring the lines between the two of them, he looked into Sora's glowing blue eyes worriedly as his cousin's face drew closer. When they were about to touch he clenched his eyes shut, the last thing he heard was someone else, he thought it was Namine, but it could have been Kairi too, scream their names. Then he was engulfed in light and everything faded away into endless warmth.

Its eyes opened slowly, blinking against the harshness of the world around him. It shook its head, clearing the fog from its mind and looking around itself curiously. What was going on? Who was it…it couldn't quite remember at all. Then there was a shout and it looked up at the winged thing rising before it and its eyes narrowed. Something inside of it asserted that it was meant to destroy this man. That this being was evil and needed to be destroyed before he harmed anyone else; reaching out, the being opened its hand, a massive tri-bladed sword snapped into existence. Without so much as a though it leapt towards Xehanort, who turned and shouted in surprise at this new opponent.

Riku, Kairi, and Namine scrambled out of the way as this new individual clashed with Xehanort. They stared in shock as the pair stood locked together for a moment before breaking off their duel for a moment.

Xehanort staring at the glowing entity standing before him, his mouth agape; "no, no no no," he murmured. "Who are you? Why do you have the heart's power?"

The Heart smiled and pointed its blade at Xehanort's chest, the smile was reminiscent of the giddy expression Sora often bore, and the voice that came forth echoed with both of the boys' voices.

"The bearers are my guardians, and I make use of them how I choose. They cannot defeat you alone, so we will defeat you together."

Xehanort's mouth opened in a vicious snarl and he roared furiously and streams of shadows flowed out from him, wrapping around the Heart in an attempt to crush it, wring its existence from the world. The Heart surged out from the shadows, its blade aimed for Xehanort who raised his wings up in an attempt to block the attack. The wings, which had deflected all the previous attacks shattered like glass. Xehanort howled in agony as the keyblade drove through his chest and into his spine before erupting from his back. The Heart withdrew the keyblade and let Xehanort sink to the floor, staring at the broken man that had tried to take its place from this world.

Xehanort looked up at it quietly; "you…you cheated these children. You aren't telling them the truth."

The Heart smiled quietly, raising its blade high before speaking, "the truth is that neither shadow nor light can exist without the other. There are fools like you who see the world as one or the other, instead of the true twilight that is the reality. These children, whether they realize it or not, have fought for that balance with everything they are. That is the truth, and you are not worthy of it."

The blade fell, and tore Xehanort's head from his body. Xehanort's corpse fell, and vanished in a fiery burst of shadow fire. The Heart turned to face the three remaining bearers as they stared up at it. A gentle smile crossed its face and it nodded towards them.

"Thank you, I give your friends back to you."

Its eyes closed and it seemed almost to fall asleep, falling onto the ground and disintegrating in a silvery wind. Roxas and Sora lay next to each other, unconscious on the ground, wrapped in each others' grip sleeping silently. Riku looked at the pair before looked at the dome around them as it faded away, he turned back to look where everyone else had been and was relieved to see that they were all released from the spines and unharmed. He looked to the girls, raising his keyblade and stepping towards the nearest of the capsules containing the trapped husks powering the artificial heart.

"Come on; let's finish this before they wake up."

He drove his keyblade through the thin shell and into the chest of the person inside, the individual writhed for a moment, as if in agony, then faded away in the same silvery light that the heart had dissolved in. Kairi and Namine did the same to the closest of their capsule and the trio moved out, releasing each individual as they went. As they proceeded the artificial heart beat and pulsed erratically. Leon and Cloud moved past them and knelt next to Roxas and Sora, lifting their little brothers up in their arms and taking them back towards the rest of the group.

Auron took Sora from Leon, brushing his son's hair out of his eyes and smiling. "Thank you Aria, don't worry, you won't have to be alone for much longer."

Leon put a hand on his father's shoulder, his lips tight. "Wait until he wakes up."

Auron nodded, watching as Riku, Namine, and Kairi finished their work and the heart chamber began to collapse on itself in convulsing throws and screeching metal.

"Don't worry; I'll take him home first."


	40. Chapter 37

Roxas' eyes flickered open slowly, his lids were heavy and his body acted all over. It felt like he'd aged overnight as he slowly creaked out of sleep and looked down at the weight on his chest. His eyes widened and he jumped to find Sora laying on him, with a supreme effort he pushed his cousin off of him and onto the floor.

Sora rolled over with a groan and looked up at Roxas blearily, "mother?" He inquired dully.

Roxas threw a pillow in his face, "I'm not your mother you dolt."

Sora shook his head, holding it gingerly, "ugh…what happened?"

"Don't you remember?" Roxas asked, truth be told he didn't remember much of anything either, when Sora shook his head he began to explain what he did remember.

"I said all that?" Sora asked in confusion, "and you saw my mom heal me?"

Roxas nodded emphatically and Sora looked even more confused. "I remember helping Riku and being stabbed…but I don't remember anything else…it's like there's something in the way."

Roxas frowned, just what had happened to his cousin that he couldn't remember any of what he'd said or done after attacking Xehanort that final time? Then it struck Roxas, where was Xehanort, and for that matter everyone else? Last he'd seen there had been only five of them left standing and the others had been suspended by spikes of Xehanort's creation and he and the other bearers had been facing Xehanort inside the barrier he'd created. He wasn't even sure if they'd won or not, but since they were sitting here talking he decided that they had indeed won.  
"So," Sora asked slowly, "if we won where are we?"

The pair looked around them quietly, the room was large and spacious; it might have been luxurious at one point even if it hadn't looked like a pack of ravenous and overly large rats had taken a liking to the place.

"I think we're in the castle?" Roxas said hesitantly.

"So we did win then, otherwise we'd be swarmed by Heartless."

"I guess," Roxas slid stiffly out of bed. "Let's see if we can find anyone."

After getting dressed, clean clothes had been left for them, they began to wander around the halls in search of anyone that could tell them what had happened. The strangest thing in Sora's mind wasn't how battered the halls and rooms looked, the Heartless had been running amok within the castle walls and add to that the subsequent battle they'd fought in the same halls, of course everything would look a bit worn. No, what struck him as strange was that the castle was vacant and devoid of anything larger than a rat or a pigeon. Eventually they were able to find areas that looked familiar and get their bearing; once they knew where they were it was easy to find their way to what had been the throne room. If they didn't find anyone there they'd just have to keep searching through the echoing halls.

The throne room doors were ajar and the cavernous room beyond bore the signs of the battle that had been fought there before. There was no sign of anyone as they moved through the forest of pillars, it was eerie, and it reminded Sora of their trip through the forest when they'd fled Twilight. Remembering the forest reminded him in turn of Red and he felt his heart clench at the memory of his friend, he wiped a tear from his cheek and bit his lip quietly.

"Where is everyone?" Roxas murmured fretfully.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Sora asked quietly, holding up his hand.

They listened for a moment, and then the sound came again, a clacking sound, like something was stepping across the marbled floor somewhere out in the pillars. Their reactions were almost instinct by this point, their keyblades snapped into their hands and they stood back to back, scanning the shadows for the source of the sound. Something moved in the corner of Sora's vision and he whirled around, ready to strike and was greeted with a high-pitched shriek that made him cover his ears as a tower of black feathers reared over his head and squawked down at him. He and Roxas stared up at the black chocobo in confusion as it preened itself and clicked its beak at them as if in annoyance.

Its head lowered and it clipped at Sora's chest, butting its head against him.

"Hey!" He protested as it pushed him along.

It turned towards Roxas and clipped its beat onto the front of his shirt and tugged on him insistently.

"I guess it wants us to come with it?" Roxas said his expression one of bewilderment.

They followed the black bird back out of the throne room and through a series of halls and passageways, and then they spied a lighted room ahead of them and heard familiar voices. Both boys broke into a run and threw the heavy door open.

"There they are," Laguna said, looking up from the table he was leaning against. "We had a bit of a panic attack when you weren't in your room."

The big chocobo stuck its head in through the doorway and chirped in annoyance, Tifa walked up and stroked its flank, quieting it. "Hi Baast, thanks for finding them," Baast warbled contentedly as she reached up to rub under his beat.

"Baast?" Sora asked, looking at Laguna in confusion.

Laguna shrugged, "he found me during the chaos in the city. I guess it wasn't just the people that came back after you got Xehanort the first time. God knows where he was until then though. I'm not going to complain that he's back," he winked. "I don't want to jinx it."

Sora looked around the room for anyone else, he spied Cid in one corner tinkering with something, Tifa was behind Roxas and himself with Baast. He didn't see anyone else.

"Where is everyone?"

"Some of them are out looking for you; the rest are down in the city helping get things back to normal."

Roxas frowned, "what happened?"

Laguna opened his mouth, "you were possessed by the heart apparently." He closed it again as Maleficent stepped into the room from another door; she eyed the boys with an arched brow. "You two are more trouble than any other pair I know, but I am glad to see that you are unharmed."

She held out her arms, eying Laguna, "if you are done with them?"

"Don't look at me; I've got my hands full here coordinating the salvage operation."

Maleficent nodded, beckoning the boys towards her again, they swallowed and stepped besides her. There was a flash of green and their heads spun, when they stopped spinning both of them fell over and gagged.

"I am never going to get used to that." Roxas rasped, queasily.

"Sora, Roxas!" Came two, very familiar and very welcome voices.

The boys managed to stand in time to be tackled by Kairi and Namine. Neither girl paid any attention to the spittle on their mouths, they just held on tight. Sora closed his eyes as he leaned against Kairi, holding her close. They had won, it was finally all over and things could go back to the way they had been.

The train came to a stop and they stepped out as the door opened, Leon and Cloud led the group as they left Twilight Station and headed towards home. Sora looked up at his father, walking besides him silently. Auron had been very quiet for the past few days, Sora wondered if he'd done something to upset his father. There was still a lot that he couldn't remember about what had happened in the final battle. One thing he was certain of was that his father looked weak, worn, as if he'd aged decades in the days that had passed. Sora had asked him about it, but Auron had simply smiled, ruffling his hair and telling him not to worry. Leon had been just as helpful much to Sora's annoyance, there was something that both of them knew and he wanted to know what it was.

He had a vague memory of Xehanort saying something about his father, but he couldn't remember what in its entirety, it was one of the many things that simply blended together into a thick fog in his memory. He tried not to let it worry him as they walked through the town. The goodbyes had back in Hollow Bastion had been many; he'd been relieved to learn that most everyone was alright. Yuna and Rikku had both been fine despite the destruction of their house. Yuna had hugged both Roxas and Sora, wishing them the best. Rikku had been a bit worse, she'd kissed Roxas full on the lips much to Namine's annoyance but no one had made an effort to stop her though Roxas had to keep himself from throwing her off of him.

Laguna and his family had seen them off at the station, Tifa and Rinoa had each taken a long time with Cloud and Leon respectively speaking in hushed voices away from everyone else before the train left. Namine and Kairi had both stayed with Sora and Roxas until the very last moment when the train had pulled away. They'd all promised to see each as soon as they could. None of them wanted to be away from the people they loved. Zack hadn't been able to see them off; he was still recovering from his two shattered legs with Aerith in attendance. Riku hadn't shown up either, but Kairi had been given a message to wish Sora well for him. Apparently after all the mayhem that had happened over the course of the fighting; Sephiroth and Paine had concluded that a vacation was in order and had left with their sons and Riku for a much needed rest for all of them.

Mim, Merlin, Maleficent, and Cid had their hands full running the kingdom in the wake of the King's death. Sora didn't quite understand the politics behind everything, but some neighboring kingdoms were apparently making a good deal of noise about the lack of an heir apparent and there were rumors of a fresh war brewing, this time against the ambitions of rival royals. Sora hoped dearly that it wouldn't come to that, but it was out of his hands, and if it did happen, what could he do about it? His fight was over as far as he was concerned and he intended to return to living a normal life with his family and Kairi. They finished climbing the street to their house, the door was flung open and Aunt Tara and Uncle Allen were standing there. Tara was on the brink of tears as she wrapped her arms around Cloud and Leon, and then embraced Roxas as well. Allen smiled warmly holding his sons and nephew when she was done with them, beckoning them inside.

Sora could already smell his Uncle's baking from out in the street and wanted desperately to go inside, but his father wasn't moving at all.

"Dad, aren't you coming?"

Auron knelt and wrapped his arms around Sora who felt surprised at the sudden embrace but held on tightly.

"Dad?" He asked, his voice trembling.

Auron let him go, holding him at arms length, his eyes were pained even as he smiled.

"I can't come with you Sora. This is your life, and I'm not going to have any further role in it."

Sora was speechless and he shook his head, throwing himself around his father's neck, Auron held him gently, running a hand through his son's hair.

"Don't start crying now kiddo. Everything will be alright; I've just outstayed my welcome. I've been cheating this entire time and its catching up with me. I'm so tired, I need to rest now."

Sora shook his head again. "Then come inside, we'll set up the spare room and you can rest there, and when you wake up you can have some of Uncle Allen's cooking and you'll be fine!"

His voice was nearly hysterical, and Auron held him all the tighter for it, even as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry Sora, it won't work. The heart isn't going to let me stay any longer, if I do I'll become a Heartless and you'll have to destroy me," he smiled ironically. "That wouldn't be something I'd want to experience."

"But…I thought you'd be staying this time."

Auron's eyes hardened, though his expression remained warm. "Sora, you have a beautiful young woman waiting for you to spend a lifetime with her. You've found a better family and home than I could have ever given you, and you've got the best friends anyone could ask for." He ruffled Sora's hair, "and besides, your mother is waiting for me. Don't you think she's been alone long enough?"

Sora nodded, his voice choked. "This isn't fair."

Auron shook his head, brushing the tears from Sora's face. "Life often isn't, but you'll be fine Sora. You've got your brother, your cousins, your friends, and Kairi. You won't be alone."

He stood then, his hand on Sora's head. Sora held onto him tightly as he slid out of his coat, folding it up and handing it to Sora.

"Here, I know it's still a bit big for you, but you'll grow into it. Just so you don't forget about me."

Sora shook his head, clutching the jacket tightly. "I'll never forget you, I never did, and I still remember mom too."

Auron nodded, "good, she'll be happy to hear that."

He put his finger in Sora's chest strongly, "so long as you keep us here, we'll never leave you Sora. We'll always be in your heart, no matter what happens."

Auron frowned slightly and looked down at his hand; his fingers were starting to fade away in glistening silver light.

"Out of time huh?" Auron muttered his voice bitter.

He wrapped Sora in his arms, holding him close as more of him began to fade.

"I love you Sora, I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you; but I know that you'll be fine. You've got your whole life ahead of you, live it."

Auron looked Sora in the eyes and brushed a hand over his cheek. "I'm very proud of you and your brother. Your mother and I will be watching over you."

Sora reached up to take his father's hand, but it had vanished. He reached out for a final grip but his hand slid through Auron's shoulder as his smiling face and eyes faded away into the morning air. Sora bit his lip, holding the red coat close to his chest as he turned back towards the front door.

Tara wrapped him in her arms. "Welcome home Sora."

Sora nodded against her, tears falling silently as he looked up and smiled at her. "We're home; all of us."

Never doubt the power of a loving heart, it can change the world.


End file.
